Tattoo allegedly glorifying fatal robbery an ‘act of hubris’ by accused man, court told

A tattoo allegedly glorifying the robbery in which Det Garda Adrian Donohoe was shot dead was an “act of hubris” by one of the men on trial for the robbery, a barrister has told the Special Criminal Court.

Lorcan Staines SC completed his closing speech to the three-judge, non-jury court on Tuesday in the trial of two men accused of a series of creeper burglaries and of participating in the fatal robbery at Lordship Credit Union in January 2013.

Mr Staines said it was “extraordinary” that accused man Brendan Treanor had chosen in 2018 to get a tattoo on his back which counsel said features a number of elements which are “striking” coincidences to what happened at Lordship.

Counsel pointed out that Mr Treanor had made a statement to police in Northern Ireland shortly after the robbery after being named online as the person who shot Det Garda Donohoe and his pixelated picture appeared in two national newspapers with one calling him a “thug”.

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Five years later, Mr Staines said, the accused had the large tattoo drawn on his back “perhaps at a time when Mr Treanor felt long enough had gone by and he had gotten away with what he had done”.

Mr Staines said this was an “act of hubris” on Mr Treanor’s part. Describing the tattoo, counsel said a BMW car in the foreground with the licence plate ‘Boss BFT’ was Mr Treanor’s own car, which he used to “tell the world that he, Brendan Treanor, was the boss”.

‘Striking coincidence’

Counsel said it is a “striking coincidence” that on the left of the tattoo there are four gangsters and on the right the face of a woman wearing a balaclava and holding a firearm.

Mr Staines pointed out that there were four raiders in the Lordship car park who carried out the robbery, and there was a suggestion at one point that the driver of the getaway car was a woman.

Mr Treanor (34), previously of Emer Terrace, Castletown Road, Dundalk, Co Louth, and James Flynn (32), from South Armagh, are charged with the robbery of €7,000 at Lordship Credit Union in Bellurgan, Co Louth, on January 25th, 2013. Both are also charged that between September 11th, 2012, and January 23rd, 2013, they conspired with convicted Garda-killer Aaron Brady and others to enter residential premises with the intention of stealing car keys.

They have pleaded not guilty to each charge.

Aaron Brady (31), previously of New Road, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh, is serving a life sentence with a 40-year minimum having been found guilty of murdering Det Garda Donohoe and of the robbery at Lordship. He denied any involvement in the robbery and is awaiting an appeal against his conviction.

In considering the court’s verdicts, Mr Staines said the judges must consider the evidence relating to the burglaries and the robbery cumulatively. He suggested they start with evidence that on January 11th, 2013 phones attributed to Mr Flynn, Mr Treanor, Brady and a fourth person of interest were calling one another in the middle of the night, pinging off phone masts in Mullingar, Co Westmeath. On the same night, he said, there were two burglaries in Mullingar. In one of those burglaries a satnav was stolen from a car and later found in the possession of Mr Flynn’s father, Eugene Flynn Snr.

When gardaí examined the satnav they found that it made a trip to Belfast from Mr Flynn’s home in Bellurgan, Co Louth at the same time that CCTV shows a vehicle leaving the property. The satnav then went to Belfast Airport, at a time consistent with Mr Flynn travelling to OId Trafford to watch Manchester United.

Spent night burgling

Mr Staines said the court could be “absolutely satisfied” that those four people were in Mullingar that night burgling houses and stealing cars.

Counsel asked the court to then look at dates before January 2013 and after that when phones attributed to some or all of the accused and Brady were in rural areas in counties Cavan and Monaghan when similar burglaries took place.

In one burglary in October 2012, documents were taken which were later found in the house where Brady lived and where Mr Flynn and Mr Treanor said they spent time on the day of the Lordship robbery.

Mr Staines asked if any jury, having considered that evidence, could accept the statements of Mr Flynn and Mr Treanor that on January 22nd, 2013 they got together with Brady for a “social, amicable interaction” involving eating pizza and chicken curry.

Mr Staines said the jury would have to consider evidence that counsel said shows that Mr Flynn, Mr Treanor and Brady stole a Volkswagen Passat that would be used in the robbery from outside a house in Clogherhead.

Counsel said the jury would also have to consider that Mr Treanor and Mr Flynn had made statements to gardaí containing things that were demonstrably untrue.

Seán Guerin SC, for Mr Treanor, will deliver his closing speech on Wednesday followed by Bernard Condon SC for Mr Flynn.