Housemate of garda killer treated as hostile witness after trial hears of statement change

At the Special Criminal Court hearing into the Lordship Credit Union robbery in which Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe was fatally shot, a witness closely connected to one of the accused has been declared hostile after presenting evidence that contradicted his earlier statement to gardaí. Colin Hoey, a housemate of James Flynn, testified that he did not observe either Flynn or Aaron Brady at his residence on the evening of the raid at Bellurgan, County Louth, on 25 January 2013. This account stood in sharp contrast to a statement he provided to gardaí at Carrickmacross in 2017, in which he detailed both men being present in his home between 9.15pm and 10.45pm that same evening. Under cross-examination, Mr Hoey alleged he had been compelled to alter his original account, claiming that a member of An Garda Síochána had threatened him with imprisonment should he refuse to cooperate with the revised narrative. The court accepted these conflicting testimonies as grounds to treat him as a hostile witness for the remainder of the proceedings. Brendan Treanor and James Flynn, both charged with the robbery of approximately €7,000 from the credit union and conspiracy to commit a series of burglaries across the border region between September 2012 and January 2013, have each pleaded not guilty to all charges. The trial, heard before Mr Justice Tony Hunt and two other judges, has combined evidence relating to a pattern of residential break-ins, known as creeper burglaries, wherein vehicles were targeted for theft alongside the credit union incident. Aaron Brady, previously convicted of Detective Garda Donohoe's murder, is currently serving a life sentence with a minimum term of forty years. He is pursuing an appeal against his conviction. The trial of Treanor and Flynn remained ongoing at the time of this hearing.