Beautician was 'naive' when she tried to help partner evade murder arrest, court told
A beautician was "naive" when she tried to help her then partner – "an extremely dangerous" killer – evade arrest after he shot dead a young drug dealer on Dublin's northside, her lawyer has told the Central Criminal Court.
Dominic McGinn SC, for Rachel Redmond (35), said on Monday that despite his client's plea of not guilty, she now accepts the jury's verdict and understands why they convicted her. The barrister asked for leniency for Redmond, the younger sister of career criminal Robert "Roo" Redmond, with the court hearing she once worked in security for the Saudi Arabian embassy.
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Mr McGinn said the relationship with Cooney "fed into her behaviour" and prevented her from "realising what would have been abundantly obvious to everyone else".
Redmond wrote a letter of apology to the family of Jordan Davis, who Wayne Cooney shot dead in an execution-style killing on May 22nd, 2019, at a laneway beside Our Lady Immaculate Junior National School in Darndale on Dublin's northside.
Mr Davis was pushing his four-month-old son in a pram when Cooney cycled up behind him and fired eight shots, three of which struck him, causing immediate death. A child who happened to be cycling through the laneway was just metres away when Cooney started firing.
Cooney fled the scene on his bicycle and went to a bus stop near the Clarehall Shopping Centre, where Rachel Redmond arranged to pick him up in her friend's car. That night, she arranged for Cooney to stay at the Clayton Hotel.
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A jury convicted Redmond, from Coolock but with an address at Cliftonville Avenue, North Belfast, Co Antrim, of attempting to impede Cooney's apprehension or prosecution while knowing or believing him to have committed murder. Following her conviction, she shouted from the dock: "I didn't do it though, I didn't do anything."
She had taken the stand at her trial, saying that she did not know what Cooney had done, that she was in love with him and was unable to see the bad in him.
Mr McGinn on Monday told the court that Redmond now accepts the jury verdict. He asked Mr Justice Paul Burns to consider that, despite his client's efforts to impede the investigation, gardaí did arrest Wayne Cooney and he was convicted of murder. Redmond was, counsel said, "perhaps naive, blinded by the relationship and turned a blind eye rather than deliberately setting out to commit a crime."
Asking for leniency, Mr McGinn pointed out his client's "solid work record" over her adult life. She has worked as a beautician, including for the IFSC and Aer Lingus. She has also worked in security for the Saudi Arabian embassy and for the psychiatric unit at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin.
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Mr McGinn handed in testimonies from Redmond's mother, father and a former employer.
The testimonials refer to her as a "hard-working, kind, loving young lady" for whom these offences are "very much out of character", Mr McGinn said.
Mr Justice Burns adjourned the matter to next Monday to deliver sentence.
In April, 2024 Rachel Redmond's brother, Robert 'Roo' Redmond, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder Jordan Davis. Text exchanges showed that Robert Redmond was demanding Mr Davis repay him a drug debt of €70,000.
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In one exchange, 19 days before Cooney carried out the murder, Robert Redmond warned Mr Davis: "I'm on your case mate, it won't be long" and "soon, very soon bang bang".
A career criminal, Robert Redmond had 99 previous convictions, including two counts for possession of firearms and ammunition with intent to endanger life.
In 2022, Robert Redmond received the mandatory term of life imprisonment for murdering father-of-eight Barry Wolverson (40) at Madigan's Yard, Kileek Lane, Swords, Co Dublin on January 17th, 2020.
Following Rachel Redmond's trial, the jury took seven hours and 33 minutes over three days to unanimously accept the State's case that she drove Cooney away from the scene and later checked him into the Clayton Hotel near Dublin Airport on the night of the murder.
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