Transcripts from the trial of Aaron Brady have been posted on Facebook by his father as part of a campaign to free the convicted garda killer despite a court order that they should not be further shared without permission.
Lawyers for Brady told the Court of Appeal on Friday that the transcripts should not have been shared online and assured the court that they would be removed from the social media page by the “close of the day”.
When the court’s president Mr Justice George Birmingham ordered last July that the transcripts be issued to lawyers on both sides, he stated that he was doing so “on the basis that they are for the appellant’s use and should not be further distributed without the permission of the court”.
However, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) later raised concerns that the material had been made public after it was posted on Facebook along with “dubious” commentary.
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During Friday’s short hearing, Lorcan Staines SC, for the DPP, told Mr Justice Birmingham that the transcripts had been shared on Facebook by Tony Brady after “all the material had been released by this court”. Mr Staines said there was a particular concern regarding the transcript of the cross-examination of Aaron Brady being posted.
Michael O’Higgins SC, for Aaron Brady, told the court he could not speak for Tony Brady but said the material in question had been provided to the defence by the prosecution.
Mr O’Higgins said he accepted that the trial material should not have been posted on Facebook.
“I am told the offending Facebook post will be removed by the close of the day,” he said.
Mr Justice Birmingham said that in “the ordinary course of events” appellants were granted access to the transcripts from their trial, but the issue in this instance was what had happened to the material thereafter.
The case was adjourned until July 1st.
Aaron Brady (31), whose last address was New Road, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh, was found guilty of the murder of Det Garda Adrian Donohoe by an 11-to-one majority verdict at the Central Criminal Court on August 11th, 2020. The father-of-one was sentenced to the mandatory term for murder of life imprisonment.
He was also sentenced to 14 years for the robbery of €7,000 – a sentence that will run concurrently with the life sentence – at Lordship Credit Union in Bellurgan, Co Louth on January 25th, 2013. He lodged an appeal against conviction in October 2020.