A woman who collected her then-partner from a bus stop just minutes after he murdered a young drug dealer was not performing "the sort of slick getaway you see in the movies", her defence counsel has told a Central Criminal Court jury.
Prosecutors, however, have described Rachel Redmond's testimony that she did not know Wayne Cooney had committed "any crime at all" when she drove him away from the scene and later checked him into a hotel as "absolutely risible".
Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing SC, for the State, added: "The accused is saying 'I didn't know'; If you said that to a horse you would get a kick".
The defence later urged the jurors not to convict Ms Redmond because of the sins of other people around her.
"We can't point the finger at Rachel Redmond because her boyfriend is the killer and her brother is involved. You can't convict her by association," Dominic McGinn SC said.
The prosecution has alleged that the accused woman, Ms Redmond (34), drove the shooter, her former partner Wayne Cooney, away from the scene and later checked him into the Clayton Hotel near Dublin Airport on the night of the murder to help him evade prosecution.
It is the State's case that the accused's older brother, Robert Redmond was engaged "in some acrimony" with 22-year-old drug dealer Jordan 'Jordo' Davis, when he was murdered in broad daylight by Cooney, while pushing his four-month-old son in a pram through a lane in Darndale on Dublin's northside.
The jury has heard that Robert Redmond pleaded guilty in April 2024 to conspiring with Wayne Cooney to murder Mr Davis on or about May 22nd, 2019 and was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Rachel Redmond's life-long friend - Stacey Hayes - previously told the trial how she was directed by the accused to a bus stop to collect Cooney, who just minutes earlier had shot drug dealer Mr Davis dead.
Ms Redmond from Coolock but with an address at Clifdenville Road, Cliftonville Avenue, North Belfast, Antrim is charged on two counts that on or about May 22nd, 2019, in Dublin, did knowingly or believing that another person, namely Wayne Cooney, committed an arrestable offence, to wit murder, without reasonable excuse did an act with intent to impede his apprehension or prosecution.
Ms Redmond has pleaded not guilty to the two counts.
Addressing the jury on Wednesday, Mr Ó Dúnlaing said Mr Davis had been shot in "callous circumstances" with a semi-automatic weapon in broad daylight in the vicinity of a school and there was no doubt that Wayne Cooney was the murderer.
He said Cooney had acted like "a shark patrolling the ocean looking for its prey" when he was seen on an orange bicycle hanging around the Darndale area for days before the murder.
The lawyer submitted that Stacey Hayes had given "uncontradicted evidence" that she had picked up Cooney at the precise location where the gunman was last seen on CCTV footage.
Counsel said Ms Redmond had effectively told them in her evidence that there was "no room at the inn" at a four-bedroom house on Streamville Road on the night of the murder, where her family members were staying.
The barrister questioned why Cooney hadn't made the booking at the Clayton Hotel at Dublin Airport in his name and why it was made so late on the night of May 22nd if it was a case of "there is nothing to see here".
"The truth of the matter is that gardaí were looking for someone matching Wayne Cooney's description; they were not looking for a female, they were looking for a man," he added.
Mr Ó Dúnlaing also asked the jury today why Ms Redmond had parked at a nearby garage instead of at the hotel. "It makes no sense unless the reason for that is you wanted to ensure that Wayne Cooney is not seen by anyone".
He asked the jury to look at how Ms Redmond picked up Cooney after the murder and how she checked him into the hotel. He said the accused was "hiding" her then-partner.
He added: "Are you seriously being asked to accept she did not know?"
The lawyer invited the jury to consider that the accused's evidence on Tuesday was "a distraction from the issue that she simply did not want to engage with".
He said the accused has had a couple of years to think about what "cock and bull story" she could tell a jury of her peers when the matter came on for trial.
He said Ms Redmond told gardaí in her interviews that the first time she heard about the shooting was on Facebook.
He said Ms Redmond had heard about the murder from Ms Hayes' nephew when she was in Ms Hayes' presence in the car, submitting that what the accused had told gardaí was a lie. "She heard about it minutes after and a couple of meters from where it had been committed".
Counsel said the first thing Ms Redmond had said to her then-partner when he got into Ms Hayes' car was that there had been a killing, to which Cooney had replied, saying "it's a mad place".
The barrister argued that this was done "to deflect any suspicion; here is something we have got nothing to do with, let me be the one to present this news to Wayne in front of Stacey".
The barrister concluded by telling the jury that Ms Redmond knew there had been a murder and that Mr Davis had been killed.
"She knew that when she picked up Wayne and when she went to check him into the hotel that night".
He said the only circumstances under which the accused had committed the offences were that she was hiding Cooney. He submitted there was no doubt about this and asked the jurors to return guilty verdicts on both counts.
In his closing speech, Dominic McGinn SC, defending, said Ms Redmond was hardworking, an ordinary member of the public and didn't live a life of crime. "Don't regard her as being some hardened criminal because she is not," he added.
Counsel said the prosecution contends that the accused's role was to keep Cooney out of sight, and if this was the ca,se then she hadn't done a very good job.
He said the assertion did not stand up to scrutiny, saying: "Cooney was completely cavalier about him being seen and there was no effort to hide him at all, he had no interest in being hidden".
He said there was no evidence that the accused knew her brother had issued threats to Mr Davis. He submitted that Ms Redmond was not there as a getaway driver, and it was clear she knew nothing that happened before collecting Cooney.
"She wasn't waiting around to collect an assassin; that is not what is going on".
Mr McGinn said the accused and Ms Hayes were "knocking around" the Darndale area and had gone to see Ms Hayes's mother, which was nothing unusual. "Even picking up Wayne Cooney at the bus stop is not the sort of slick getaway you see in the movies".
Counsel said his client did not think there was anything wrong going on as she had used her own name and credit card in the Clayton Hotel that night.
He said it was not the first time hotel rooms had been used by the couple given their unusual living arrangements. "There is nothing unusual about the visit to the hotel unless you knew Cooney had committed the killing and he was the murderer; that whole interaction is not unusual".
He said the DPP had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms Redmond, in picking up Cooney from the bus stop and later taking him to the hotel was that she knew or believed Cooney had committed a murder. It was not about whether she was unlucky or not, he added.
The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Paul Burns and a jury of three men and nine women.
