Aaron Brady gets life for 'evil and pointless' murder of Garda Adrian Donohoe

Det. Garda Adrian Donohoe's wife said: "We had a loving, happy family, but in just 58 senseless seconds everything changed forever."

Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe was shot dead during a robbery at a credit union in Co Louth on January 25, 2013. File image

Aaron Brady has been sentenced to life in prison for a period of not less than 40 years for the capital murder of Garda Detective Adrian Donohoe.

"We had a loving, happy family, but in just 58 senseless seconds everything changed forever," the wife of the murdered detective garda told the Central Criminal Court today.

Speaking at a sentence hearing for her husband's murderer, Caroline Donohoe said no words can express the impact on her life, the lives of her children and their family, colleagues and friends who all loved Adrian.

Det. Garda Adrian Donohoe's parents have said their son's murder was "a waste of a good man for such an evil and pointless act".

Speaking at a sentence hearing this morning Hugh and Peggy Donohoe said their son deserved the chance to live to old age and not to be "shot down in such a brutal way".

The wife of the late Detective Garda Adrian Donohue arriving at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin before the sentencing of Co Armagh man Aaron Brady for capital murder of her husband @PA pic.twitter.com/88VpZRvKkP

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In a written statement read by their son Alan they said: "We visit his grave every week, which is some comfort, but it’s no place for him. He should be here with us living his life."

Aaron Brady (aged 28) of New Road, Crossmaglen, Co. Armagh, was convicted in August of capital murder for shooting Detective Garda Donohoe dead during a robbery at Lordship Credit Union on January 25, 2013. He was also convicted of the robbery of €7,000. 

For the capital murder offence Mr Justice Michael White today sentenced him to life imprisonment. Under the Criminal Justice Act 1990 the judge was required to state that Brady must serve a minimum term of imprisonment of 40 years.

Mr Justice White also sentenced Brady to 14 years for the robbery, a sentence that will run concurrently with the life sentence.

Victim impact statement - Caroline Donohoe, Detective Garda Donohoe’s wife

“There are absolutely no words that can adequately express the impact of the events of January 25th 2013 had on my life and the lives of my children and extended family, colleagues and friends and all who loved Adrian,” Mrs Donohoe said.

Mrs Donohoe visited the scene less than an hour after the shooting and identified her husband's body.

"I will never recover fully from what I had to see," she said, adding: "My heart breaks every time I pass there and sometimes I can't get the images out of my mind for hours. 

Nothing and nobody will ever replace Adrian in our home.

“Amy and Niall have missed having their daddy at their communions, confirmations and all the firsts in their young lives,” she said.

“We had a loving happy family, everything was just perfect but in just 58 senseless seconds everything changed forever.”

Victim impact statement - Mary Donohoe, Detective Garda Donohoe’s sister

Garda Donohoe’s sister Mary Donohoe said she looked up to her big brother “in every sense of the world”.

She read out a statement in court on behalf of herself and her brothers and sisters.

“He was large in stature and large in personality,” she said, adding that his “enthusiasm for life was infectious”.

Detective Garda Donohoe was the eldest of six children.

Mrs Donohoe said it had been “a great comfort to know” her brother was at the end of a phone.

But now “one of her best friends” was no longer there and he had missed out on so much since his “senseless death”, missing family weddings and gatherings, she told the court.

Mrs Donohoe added that she couldn’t imagine the “pain and heartbreak” that her parents were going through having lost a son, and that sometime it was “too much to bear” to watch her mother light a candle in front of a photo of Adrian every day.

“How they keep going I don’t know,” she said.

Mary Donohoe said her brother had a “strong sense of duty”.

“He stood up for what is right,” she said, adding that the family had been left “distraught” since his murder.

She said all they had left now were photos. 

She told the court:

I don’t think Aaron Brady will ever comprehend what he’s done to our family.

Mr Justice Michael White has been hearing evidence about the offence this morning and has asked for time to prepare a sentence in relation to the robbery. 

He also said that he wishes to say a few words about the murder.

Additional reporting PA