Trial of garda killer during covid lockdown 'an unbearable burden', court told

Not normal for jurors to come and work in a courtroom of 31 people when there was a 'deadly disease out there', Aaron Brady's defence claimed

Aaron Brady was found guilty of the murder of Detective Adrian Garda Donohoe by an 11 to one majority jury verdict at the Central Criminal Court in August 2020. 

The trial of Aaron Brady, who was convicted of murdering Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe, remained the only case at hearing as the pandemic took hold in Ireland and it was inappropriate for a jury to determine his guilt or innocence as people were dying from covid-19, his lawyers have told the Court of Appeal.

Brady, who was jailed in 2020 for a minimum of 40 years for the murder of the detective, has launched a bid to overturn his conviction in a six-day hearing, in what the appellate court heard on Wednesday was "one of the longest cases ever" before it.