Garda killer Aaron Brady and a violent man who together conspired to pervert the course of justice during Brady's capital murder trial have been sentenced by the Special Criminal Court to a combined total of five years in prison.
As Brady is already serving a life sentence for murdering Det Garda Adrian Donohoe, the three-year sentence he received on Monday will make no difference to the time he serves.
Brady accepted that he was responsible for recording footage of an interview between gardaí and Ronan Flynn, a witness who told gardaí he had heard Brady admit to shooting Det Garda Donohoe three times.
The video was later posted on social media accusing Mr Flynn of "touting" and calling him a "rat".
Mr Flynn did not give evidence at Brady's trial and Mr Justice Michael White, who oversaw the murder trial, described the release of the footage as "the most outrageous contempt of court" and a clear attempt to intimidate Flynn and other witnesses.
Brady's co-conspirator, Dean Byrne, was due to be released later this year having spent the last ten years in prison for multiple offences, including an aggravated burglary.
Following Byrne's conviction last month for conspiring to persuade a witness in Brady's trial not to give evidence, Mr Justice Paul Burns at the three-judge court imposed a two-year sentence on Byrne that will begin when his previous sentences expire.
Byrne, now aged 31, has been in prison since he was 21.
Mr Justice Burns said that the offences committed by Brady and Byrne go to the heart of the administration of justice. In this case, it involved interference in the "extremely grave offence" of capital murder.
Any attempt by individuals to place themselves above the law risks "fundamentally undermining the criminal justice system and cannot be tolerated in a democratic society," he said.
However, the judge noted that the attempts to dissuade witnesses did not involve violence, threats or inducements.
Therefore, he said the sentence imposed must reflect society's intolerance of unlawful interference in the administration of justice, but must also bear in mind the means used.
The court arrived at headline sentences of five years for Brady and four years for Byrne. Having considered mitigating factors and the fact that both are already serving lengthy sentences, he reduced those to three and two years.
In August 2020, Brady (33), formerly of New Road, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh was convicted by a jury of the murder of Det Garda Adrian Donohoe during a credit union robbery at Lordship, Bellurgan, Co Louth on January 25th, 2013.
Earlier this year, Brady pleaded guilty to a charge that on a date between February 20th and May 7th, 2020, within the State, he video recorded the playing of an interview between Ronan Flynn, a witness at his trial, and An Garda Síochána, thus embarking on a course of conduct intended to pervert the course of justice.
Mr Flynn, who did not give evidence at Brady's trial, spoke to gardaí in October 2017 while he was living in New York.
He told gardaí that while he was sharing an apartment with Brady, he often heard the defendant admit to shooting Det Garda Donohoe. Mr Flynn said that when Brady was drunk he would listen to the Wolfe Tones and get "angry and frustrated with himself" and say things like: "Sure f**k it, I shot a guard".
The video of parts of Mr Flynn's Garda interview was uploaded to WhatsApp, YouTube and Facebook with text accusing Mr Flynn of "touting" and claiming he had charges against him in the US dropped in return for his statement.
Brady also sent photographs of part of the statement of Daniel Cahill to Byrne, a violent criminal who was housed on the same wing of Mountjoy Prison as Brady. Byrne passed the statements on to at least two people in an attempt to get Mr Cahill's family members to persuade him not to give evidence.
Mr Cahill did give evidence at Brady's trial, telling the jury that Brady admitted to shooting a garda on three occasions while Brady was living in New York having fled from Ireland in the aftermath of the murder.
Mr Cahill's evidence helped to prove that Brady was not just a member of the robbery gang, but the gunman who shot and killed Det Garda Donohoe.
Brady is serving a life sentence with a minimum time served of 40 years for that murder. He was also jailed for 14 years for the robbery of the credit union. The sentence imposed today will run consecutively with that sentence.
Dean Byrne (31), from Cabra Park, Phibsborough, Dublin, has 127 previous convictions.
He was due to be released later this year from a 14-year sentence for aggravated burglary. While in prison he has been convicted of further offences, including aiding and abetting a violent disorder in Mountjoy and possession of mobile phones.
He was found guilty by the non-jury Special Criminal Court in June of conspiring with Aaron Brady in Mountjoy Prison between April 8th, 2020 and June 22nd, 2020 to persuade prosecution witness Daniel Cahill not to give evidence at Brady's murder trial, a course of conduct which had a tendency to and which was intended to pervert the course of justice.
