A woman who helped her then partner, described in court as “an extremely dangerous” killer, to “lie low” after he shot a young drug dealer in Dublin has been jailed for four years.
A jury in March convicted Rachel Redmond (35) – the younger sister of career criminal Robert ‘Roo’ Redmond – of attempting to impede Wayne Cooney’s apprehension or prosecution while knowing or believing him to have committed murder.
The trial heard that after he got into the car on May 22nd, 2019, Redmond remarked to Cooney that there had been a shooting in Darndale, to which he replied: “It’s a mad place.”
Cooney had minutes earlier killed Jordan Davis in an execution-style shooting on a laneway beside Our Lady Immaculate Junior National School in Darndale. Mr Davis was pushing his son in a pram when Cooney cycled up behind him and fired eight shots, three of which struck him.
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He fled the scene on his bicycle and went to a bus stop near the Clarehall Shopping Centre, where Redmond arranged to pick him up in her friend’s car. She paid for Cooney to stay at the Clayton Hotel near Dublin Airport that night.
At a sentencing hearing at the Central Criminal Court on Monday, Mr Justice Paul Burns said that rather than being “revulsed” after learning about the murder, Redmond “chose to assist” her then-partner and helped him to “lie low”.
He said there was no evidence that Redmond was reluctant to help Cooney and she aided him to avoid capture when important forensic evidence could have been gathered.
The judge said the maximum sentence for such crimes is 10 years and that Redmond’s actions fell in the “upper end of middle range”. He said her assistance in the crime was “not spur of the moment” and that she must have given considerable thought to what she was doing.
Dominic McGinn SC, for Redmond, previously said despite his client’s not guilty plea, she accepts the jury’s verdict.
The judge said that he had considered the mitigating circumstances in the case, including Redmond’s lack of previous relevant convictions and her good work record.
He set a headline sentence of six years on each count but reduced that to five years with both counts running concurrently. He suspended the final year of the sentence for a period of three years.
Redmond, originally from Coolock but with an address at Clifdenville Road, Belfast, reacted by saying: “Thank you judge”. She told those who came to support her: “I’ll be home soon, don’t worry.”
Redmond took the stand during her trial, claiming she did not know what Cooney had done, that she was in love with him and was unable to see the bad in him. The prosecution described Redmond’s testimony as “absolutely risible”.
“The accused is saying ‘I didn’t know’. If you said that to a horse you would get a kick,” said Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing SC, for the State.
Following Redmond’s trial, the jury took seven hours and 33 minutes over three days to unanimously accept the State’s case. After she was convicted, she shouted from the dock: “I didn’t do it though, I didn’t do anything.”
It was the State’s case that drug dealer Robert Redmond was engaged “in some acrimony” with Mr Davis. A detective testified that “tick lists” found at two addresses linked to Robert Redmond contained the name “Jordo” – the same handle Jordan Davis was known by – with amounts of up to €153,000 recorded as owing.
Evidence was given that Mr Davis was warned by Robert Redmond “I’m on your case mate, it won’t be long” and “soon, very soon bang bang”.
Cooney was convicted of the murder in 2022, while Robert Redmond pleaded guilty in April 2024 to conspiring together with Cooney to murder Mr Davis.
