Capital murder trial continues before Central Criminal Court
A UK video analyst viewed CCTV footage from the night Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe was shot dead in an attempt to identify vehicles gardaí believe were involved in the shooting, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
Matt Cass of Acuity Forensics told prosecution counsel Lorcan Staines SC that his company specialises in image analysis, vehicle identification and reconstruction of events that have been captured by CCTV.
Giving his evidence by video link from the UK he said his role is to provide evidence "impartially, not to take sides or provide evidence for one side or the other". At the beginning of the process, he asked gardaí not to provide information about the CCTV so his colleague Andy Wooller could carry out a "blind analysis" of the footage.
He added: "We are just interested in what the CCTV can tell us without the background information."
Mr Cass worked as an intermediary between gardaí and Mr Wooller to protect the video analyst from any bias, he said.
Aaron Brady (28) from New Road, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh has pleaded not guilty to the capital murder of Kilnaleck native, Det Gda Adrian Donohoe, who was then a member of An Garda Siochana on active duty on January 25, 2013, at Lordship Credit Union, Bellurgan, Co Louth. Mr Brady has denies robbing approximately €7,000 in cash and assorted cheques on the same date and at the same location.
The jury heard that Mr Wooller viewed CCTV footage from the night of the shooting and footage from various locations around county Louth two nights prior to the shooting. He then made a list of vehicles that may have been visible in the footage. In October 2017, he and Mr Cass helped gardaí to do a reconstruction of the footage using the list of cars identified so they could compare and contrast.
Detective Garda Garreth Kenna played for the jury CCTV footage at various locations from the night of the murder and from two nights previously when the prosecution alleges that a Volkswagen Passat used in the robbery was stolen from outside a house in Clogherhead, Co Louth. He then played reconstructed footage taken from the same CCTV cameras using cars identified by Mr Wooller.
Among the cars selected for the reconstruction were three models of the BMW 5-Series, A Volkswagen Passat model from 2008 and another from 2011 and a Peugot 508 from 2011.
The jury was then shown the original footage from January 23 and January 25 2013 alongside the reconstructed footage using the selected vehicles. Gardai also reconstructed the footage using a car that belonged to a suspect for the robbery.
The trial continues in front of Mr Justice Michael White and a jury of six men and seven women.