Robert 'Roo' Redmond's sister has denied that she had an "agenda" to collect her then-partner Wayne Cooney after he "executed" a 22-year-old father, telling a jury that she did not think he would be capable of carrying out a murder.
Taking the stand at her own trial on Tuesday, 34-year-old Rachel Redmond told the jury that she didn't know convicted murderer Cooney had committed "any crime at all" when she drove him away from the scene and later checked him into a hotel.
She went on to say she was in love with Cooney and hadn't seen the bad in him but had started opening her eyes when she saw the CCTV footage of the killing.
The prosecution has alleged that the accused woman Ms Redmond (34) drove the shooter – her former partner Wayne Cooney – away from the scene and later checked him into the Clayton Hotel near Dublin Airport on the night of the murder in an effort to help him evade prosecution.
It is the State's case that the accused's older brother Robert Redmond was engaged "in some acrimony" with 22-year-old drug dealer Jordan 'Jordo' Davis, when he was murdered in broad daylight by Cooney, while pushing his four-month-old son in a pram through a lane in Darndale on Dublin's northside.
The jury heard on Tuesday that Robert Redmond had pleaded guilty in April 2024 to conspiring together with Wayne Cooney to murder Mr Davis on or about May 22nd, 2019, and was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Rachel Redmond's life-long friend – Stacey Hayes – previously told the trial how she was directed by the accused to a bus stop to collect Cooney, who just minutes earlier had shot drug dealer Mr Davis dead.
Ms Redmond, from Coolock but with an address at Clifdenville Road, Cliftonville Avenue, Belfast, Co Antrim, is charged on two counts that on or about May 22nd, 2019, in Dublin, did knowingly or believing that another person, namely Wayne Cooney, committed an arrestable offence, to wit murder, without reasonable excuse did an act with intent to impede his apprehension or prosecution.
Ms Redmond has pleaded not guilty to the two counts.
Giving evidence on Tuesday, Ms Redmond told her defence counsel Dominic McGinn SC that she had received a phone call from Wayne asking for a lift but she told him 'no' and to get a taxi. "He said he had no money. I asked Stacey when we were on the phone if she could go and pick Wayne up and she said yes".
Ms Redmond said she had received a phone call from Wayne asking for a lift but she told him 'no' and to get a taxi. "He said he had no money. I asked Stacey when we were on the phone if she could go and pick Wayne up and she said yes".
She said Wayne told her he was at a bus stop at Clarehall and that they had to deviate a bit to collect him.
When it was put to the accused by her counsel that phone records showed she had been on the phone to Wayne for two and a half minutes, Ms Redmond responded: "It was just chit chat, where he was and where to pick him up from".
The accused said she saw Wayne as they approached Clarehall Shopping Centre and that she had remarked "there is the eejit up there on the left" before picking him up.
Ms Redmond said she told Wayne there had been a shooting in Coolock when he got into the car and that he had replied "it's a mad place". She said she hadn't found anything unusual about his behaviour and they were dropped near a house on Streamville Road.
Ms Redmond said there wasn't enough room for Wayne to stay at Streamville Road on the night of May 22nd. She said Wayne had used her phone to book a room at the Clayton Hotel near Dublin Airport and she had paid for it as she was working at the time.
Ms Redmond said her sister drove her and Wayne to the Clayton Hotel that night, where she used her bank card to pay for the room.
Mr McGinn put it to his client that Wayne was arrested in connection with the murder of Mr Davis a month later. Ms Redmond said she had spoken to Wayne about this. "I didn't think he would be able to do anything like that, I didn't think he would be capable of doing that," she added.
Asked by counsel whether this "thought" had changed, Ms Redmond said it had when she was arrested on suspicion of murder in 2020 and saw the CCTV footage.
"On May 22nd, 2019, when you collected Wayne from the bus stop opposite the shopping centre and dropped him at the hotel, at that stage did you know or believe he had committed any crime at all?" asked Mr McGinn. "No," replied Ms Redmond.
Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing SC, prosecuting, began his cross-examination of Ms Redmond by asking her whether she accepted she must be a very unlucky person because she had picked up her then-partner ten minutes after he committed the murder of Mr Davis. The accused said "yes if you want to put it like that".
The accused denied that she had directed Stacey Hayes where to go that day saying she had asked her friend to pick up Wayne and she had agreed. "This is my story, I'm not lying".
Ms Redmond accepted it was the first time a court and a jury had heard that Cooney stayed at the Clayton Hotel that night as there was no room at Streamville Road. She said she hadn't said this to gardaí in 2020 as she was advised by her solicitor to remain silent. She added: "All of this is just unnecessary, I am innocent".
Asked what was unnecessary, Ms Redmond replied: "Me being here, I didn't do anything wrong."
"Are you a victim in all this? asked Mr Ó Dúnlaing, to which the accused said "yes, I am".
Mr Ó Dúnlaing put it to the accused that gardaí had shown her CCTV of her checking Wayne into the hotel. "Yes, I hold my hands up to that, that's me," she said.
"You checked him into a hotel on the same day he executed Jordan Davis, when he executed him in a cold-blooded style?" said the barrister. "I just think I shouldn't have been asked these things," she replied.
Counsel asked the defendant whether it was "a major inconvenience" to her. "I shouldn't be here, I was in a relationship with someone who committed a crime," she said. Ms Redmond went on to say she accepted Wayne Cooney had committed the crime and that he had been convicted of the murder of Mr Davis.
She also agreed she had returned from Northern Ireland to visit Wayne in prison when she was arrested.
Counsel put it to Ms Redmond that Cooney had been convicted of murder when she had visited him in Mountjoy Prison in August 2022 and was arrested. "I couldn't see him being that kind of a person, I was in love with him, I didn't see the bad in him. When I saw the CCTV that's when I started opening my eyes".
"You are shown the CCTV in August 2020 and two years later you are still visiting Wayne Cooney?" pressed counsel. Ms Redmond said Wayne had no family so she supported him and gave him clothes and money. "I felt sorry for him".
Asked whether she accepted that picking up Cooney ten minutes after the murder and checking him into a hotel was "something that calls for an explanation". Ms Redmond said she had no explanation but she did see it was "completely wrong".
Told by counsel that she had picked up a murderer that day, Ms Redmond said there was no way she would have picked someone up if she knew they had done something like that.
The lawyer asked the accused what she was talking about on the phone to Cooney for 200 seconds after the murder. She said her partner had asked her to pick him up. "That took 200 seconds?" asked counsel, to which Ms Redmond said she didn't know.
She denied that there was anything unusual or suspicious about the manner in which Cooney went into the hotel, hadn't spoken to a single person and then went straight to his room where he spent 11 hours. She said she couldn't give the prosecutor an answer as to why they hadn't walked into the foyer of the hotel together.
In conclusion, Mr Ó Dúnlaing put it to Ms Redmond that at a minimum she believed Cooney had killed Mr Davis and that she had one agenda in mind, which was to pick her partner up after the murder. Counsel told the accused she had later checked Cooney into a hotel to "shield" him from authorities because the murder was committed by him and she knew he had done it. "You're wrong," replied Ms Redmond.
The trial continues on Wednesday before Mr Justice Paul Burns and a jury of three men and nine women.
