Sligo woman sentenced to four years for staging musician’s suicide

A Sligo woman has been sentenced to four years in prison for staging a musician’s suicide in order to impede the prosecution of her brother, who was last week jailed for life for murder.

Sentencing Janice Brady on Wednesday at the Central Criminal Court, Mr Justice Michael White noted the defendant had already served 28 months in custody and, taking this into account, had only a short portion of the sentence left to serve.

The judge said he would consider suspending the balance of the sentence but needed “stronger reassurance” as to a permanent address that the defendant could reside at. “Before I consider suspending the balance I have to know she has a place to live and some degree of supervision,” he indicated.

Mr Justice White said Janice Brady, who has a very serious drug addiction, had assisted her brother by falsifying the scene of the crime to give a “haphazard impression” as to how the offence occurred. She has 73 previous convictions including robbery, theft and assault.

The court heard during today’s sentence hearing that the defendant had placed the deceased’s hand on a knife to make his death look “staged” or “like something else”.

Janice Brady (29), with a last address at Maryville Hostel, Finisklin, Sligo, pleaded guilty two years ago to impeding the apprehension or prosecution of her brother between August 2nd and August 3rd, 2015 at an address in Sligo, knowing or believing that he was guilty of a killing.

Last week, the defendant's brother Keith Brady (32) was found guilty of murder after he stabbed talented musician Martin 'Matt' Kivlehan to death. The court heard that Brady had ordered heroin to Mr Kivlehan's house while his victim's body lay on the floor. The drug user, with an address at Cartron Estate, Sligo had denied murdering Mr Kivlehan on August 2nd or 3rd, 2015 at Mr Kivlehan's home at New Apartments, Holborn St, Sligo. His plea to guilty of manslaughter had been rejected by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

A post-mortem found that Mr Kivlehan suffered two stab wounds, one to either side of his neck. The stab wound to the right severed an artery, which caused his death.

Janice Brady was remanded in custody until Monday, when it is expected that a permanent address will be provided to the court.