A convicted murderer has pleaded guilty to conspiring to murder a father of one who was shot dead five years ago in Dublin while pushing his infant son in a pram.
Robert Redmond (35), formerly of Streamville Road, Kilbarrack, who is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of Barry Wolverson, was arraigned before the Central Criminal Court on Monday.
He pleaded guilty to conspiring, with another or others, to murder Jordan Davis (22) on or about May 22nd, 2019.
Redmond was originally charged with murdering Mr Davis, who was shot by a gunman on a bike while pushing his four-month-old son’s buggy along a laneway beside Our Lady of Immaculate National School in Darndale. He suffered three gunshot wounds, including one to the head that killed him instantly.
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In 2022, drug dealer Wayne Cooney (33) was jailed for life for murdering Mr Davis after a jury found he was the cyclist who circled Mr Davis for three days like a “shark moving towards its prey” before firing eight shots at him from a 9mm pistol.
Mr Justice Tony Hunt sentenced Cooney to life imprisonment, saying the defendant was “obviously an extremely dangerous individual”.
The prosecution told the jury in Cooney’s trial that Mr Davis was a drug dealer but that this did not reduce his entitlement to have his right to life respected. Cooney’s trial heard that before the murder a local drug dealer threatened to kill Mr Davis because of a €70,000 debt.
At a brief hearing on Monday, Bernard Condon SC said Redmond’s plea to the second count on the indictment was acceptable to the Director of Public Prosecutions. A nolle prosequi is to be entered on the murder charge after the defendant is sentenced, meaning the State will not be prosecuting Redmond for that alleged offence. Mr Justice Paul McDermott set May 13th as the date for a sentence hearing.
The Special Criminal Court previously heard that Redmond has 97 previous convictions. These included two for possession of firearms and ammunition with intention to endanger life, as well as the murder conviction.
Redmond was sentenced in December 2022 over the gun murder of Mr Wolverson (40) at Madigan’s Yard, Kileek Lane, Swords at around midday on January 17th, 2020. He had denied the charge.
A co-accused, Bernard Fogarty (34), of Cromcastle Court, Kilmore, Coolock, was also sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering Mr Wolverson, a businessman and a father of eight who rented space at Madigan’s Yard.
Redmond was also jailed for six years by the Special Criminal Court last year for his part in helping to move a submachine gun that was recovered during a Garda operation in 2020. He and a co-accused, Jamie Gray (27), of Hazelwood, Fassaroe, Bray, Co Wicklow, pleaded guilty to having in their possession or under their control a RAK PM-63 submachine gun on the M11 southbound at Shankill on May 7th, 2020.
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