Ex-partner of gun murderer proclaims innocence after jury convicts her of impeding investigation

Alison O’Riordan

The ex-partner of "an extremely dangerous" killer who gunned down a young drug dealer on Dublin's northside proclaimed herself innocent on Monday afternoon, despite a jury finding that she impeded the garda investigation by collecting the murderer from a bus stop just minutes after the shooting and later checking him into a hotel.

When the 12 jurors left the courtroom having returned unanimous guilty verdicts against Rachel Redmond - the younger sister of Robert "Roo" Redmond - the 34-year old shouted from the dock: "I didn't do it though, I didn't do anything".

As Ms Redmond was led away to the cell area by prison officers, a supporter for 22-year-old Jordan 'Jordo' Davis - who was shot dead "in a cold-blooded and calculated execution" while pushing his four-month-old son in a pram - shouted back: "Justice is done finally for the child" and "I hope she rots".

The jury had heard how drug dealer Davis was shot to death in broad daylight six years ago by Wayne Cooney, who fired at him eight times in a laneway beside Our Lady Immaculate Junior National School in Darndale on Dublin's northside. Mr Davis suffered three gunshot wounds, including one to the head that killed him instantly.

The jury took seven hours and 33 minutes over three days to unanimously accept the State's case that Rachel Redmond drove the shooter - her former partner and convicted murderer Cooney - away from the scene and later checked him into the Clayton Hotel near Dublin Airport on the night of the murder.

Taking the stand at her own trial, Ms Redmond had denied that she had an "agenda" to collect Cooney after he "executed" the young father, telling a jury that she did not think he would be capable of carrying out a murder.

Ms Redmond told the jury that she didn't know 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.

In his closing speech, Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing SC with Simon Matthews BL, prosecuting, described Ms Redmond's testimony as "absolutely risible".

Mr Ó Dúnlaing added: "The accused is saying 'I didn't know'; If you said that to a horse you would get a kick".

Defence lawyers for Ms Redmond had submitted in their closing address that Ms Redmond was not performing "the sort of slick getaway you see in the movies" when she collected Cooney from the bus stop just minutes after he murdered Mr Davis.

Barrister Dominic McGinn SC urged the jurors not to convict his client because of the sins of other people around her. "We can't point the finger at Rachel Redmond because her boyfriend is the killer and her brother is involved. You can't convict her by association," he said.

The jury had heard that Cooney had been convicted of the murder in 2022, while the defendant's older brother and career criminal Robert "Roo" Redmond pleaded guilty in April 2024 to conspiring together with Cooney to murder Mr Davis on or about May 22 2019 and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Cooney was described by the prosecution as having acted like "a shark patrolling the ocean looking for its prey" when he was seen on a distinctive orange bicycle in the Darndale area for three days before he fired eight bullets at Mr Davis, striking him three times.

In his charge to the jury, Mr Justice Paul Burns said the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that Ms Redmond knew Cooney had murdered Mr Davis at the time she did the acts complained of. He said subsequent knowledge was not enough.

Following today's guilty verdicts, Mr Justice Burns thanked the members of the jury for the "very important function" they had performed on behalf of their fellow citizens. "Thank you very much for the obvious hard work and attention you paid to this case," he added.

The judge excused them from jury service for the next seven years.

When the jury of three men and nine women left the courtroom, defence counsel Keith Spencer BL asked for Ms Redmond to remain on bail so that she could put her affairs in order.

Mr Ó Dúnlaing, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said he was opposing the application and asked that Ms Redmond be remanded in custody.

Mr Justice Burns pointed out that the defendant's status had changed and she had been convicted of "this very serious offence".

At this point, Ms Redmond interjected from the dock and said aloud: "I didn't do it though, I didn't do anything". She added: "I shouldn't be here, I didn't do anything".

Mr Justice Burns remanded Ms Redmond in custody until May 12, when her sentence hearing will take place.

Mr Ó Dúnlaing said a victim impact statement had been prepared by Mr Davis' family on a previous occasion.

When the judge rose, Ms Redmond shouted out: "They're a pack of scumbags".

One of the deceased's supporters, who was gathered at the back of the courtroom, shot back "justice is done finally for the child" and "I hope she rots" as the defendant was led away to the cell area by the prison officers.

Rachel Redmond's life-long friend Stacey Hayes had told the trial how she was directed by the defendant to a bus stop in Clarehall to collect Cooney, who just minutes earlier had shot Mr Davis dead.

The trial heard Ms Redmond was in phone contact with Cooney just five minutes after the shooting and remained talking to him for over three minutes. She later went to the Clayton Hotel that night, where she used her own bank card to pay for a room for Cooney while he remained out of sight.

It was also the State's case that drug dealer Robert Redmond was engaged "in some acrimony" with Mr Davis. A detective testified that "tick lists" found at two addresses linked to Robert Redmond had contained the name "Jordo" - the same nickname Jordan Davis was known by - with amounts up to €153,000 recorded as owing. €70,000 was written beside one entry with the words "not yet" in capital letters.

Evidence was given that Mr Davis was warned by Robert Redmond - "I'm on your case mate, it won't be long" and "soon, very soon bang bang" - 19 days before he was shot to death.

Rachel Redmond (34) from Coolock but with an address at Clifdenville Road, Cliftonville Avenue, North Belfast, Antrim was charged on two counts that on or about May 22 and May 23 2019, in the county of the City of 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 had pleaded not guilty to the two counts.

Rachel Redmond, who took the stand in her own defence, told her barrister that she had been in her friend Stacey Hayes' car on the afternoon of May 22nd when she received a phone call from Wayne Cooney asking for a lift.

Ms Redmond told her then-partner 'no' and to get a taxi, adding: "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 Cooney told her he was at a bus stop at Clarehall and they had deviated a bit to collect him. She passed off being on the phone to Cooney for 200 minutes as "just chit chat, where he was and where to pick him up from".

The defendant said she saw Cooney as they approached Clarehall Shopping centre and that she had remarked to Stacey "there is the eejit up there on the left" before collecting him.

Ms Redmond said she told Cooney when he got into the car that there had been a shooting in Coolock and he replied "it's a mad place". She said she hadn't found anything unusual about his behaviour and they were dropped near a relative's house on Streamville Road.

Ms Redmond told the jury there wasn't enough room for Cooney to stay at Streamville Road that night as members of her family were already staying there.

She said Cooney used her phone that night to book a room at the Clayton Hotel near Dublin Airport and she had paid for it as she was working in Aer Lingus at the time.

Ms Redmond's sister, she said, had driven herself and Cooney to the Clayton Hotel, where she [Rachel] used her bank card to pay for the room.

Ms Redmond said she spoke to Cooney when he was arrested in connection with the murder a month later. "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 told the jury.

The defendant said this "thought" had changed when she was arrested on suspicion of murder in 2020 and saw the CCTV footage from the investigation.

Under cross-examination by the prosecution, Ms Redmond accepted it was the first time a court and a jury had heard that Cooney stayed at the Clayton Hotel on May 22 because there was no room at Streamville Road. Ms Redmond said she hadn't said this to gardai in 2020 as she was advised by her solicitor to remain silent. She added: "All of this is just unnecessary, I am innocent".

The defendant agreed with the prosecution that Cooney had been convicted of murder when she visited him in Mountjoy Prison in August 2022 and that she was arrested when leaving the prison. "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".

Told by the prosecution counsel that she had picked up a murderer on May 22, Ms Redmond said there was no way she would have picked someone up if she knew they had done something like that.

The prosecutor 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 defendant 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.

'It's a mad place'

Ms Redmond's lifelong friend Stacey Hayes described how she was directed to a bus stop by Rachel to collect the defendant's boyfriend Wayne Cooney.

The witness said they had picked up Cooney not far from a bus stop opposite 'Tesco' on the Clarehall Road in Dublin 17. She said it was "minutes" between hearing about Mr Davis being shot and picking up Cooney.

Ms Hayes said Rachel had been on the phone until they "got to Wayne" but the witness didn't know who Rachel was actually speaking with.

She told the jury that Rachel had said "there he is or get that eejit; something like that" when they picked him up.

When asked by the prosecutor why she had done a U-turn on Belcamp Lane before turning onto the Malahide Road in the CCTV footage, Ms Hayes replied: "She was just telling me where to go".

In cross-examination, the witness agreed with the defence that she remembered telling gardai in her statement that Rachel had said to Cooney there had been a shooting in Darndale when he got into the car and he had replied: "It's a mad place."

Tattoo of a crown with the initials 'RR'

Cooney had several tattoos on his right arm including depictions of "a wedge of €50 bank notes" and the Ha'penny Bridge. Evidence was given that on his left hand was a tattoo of a crown with the initials 'RR' underneath it.

Now retired Detective Garda Shane Kelly said he was "one hundred percent sure" it was Wayne Cooney - who had the nickname 'Spuddy Cooney' and was from Glenshane Drive in Tallaght - when shown CCTV footage from around Darndale and at the Clayton Hotel near Dublin Airport on May 22nd 2019.

The statement of Mr Davis' mother Sandra Davis was read into the record, where she said she had five children and that her daughter had died two years previously. Ms Davis described her relationship with Jordan as being very close.

The mother-of-five recalled that her son had told her he was smoking 'weed' at 16 years old, remarking that he was always 'drawn to the older lads'.

She said there was nothing fancy in her home but that the house started to get raided by gardai.

Ms Davis noticed a change in her son when Jordan started accumulating money and began to buy lots of nice clothes. She asked her son where he got the money from but he wouldn't answer her.

She said Jordan started to 'hang around' with a 'fella called Roo' and that she knew her son was getting money from selling drugs as he wasn't working and always had the best clothes. Ms Davis asked Jordan to stop and kept telling him that his luck was going to run out. She went on to say that things then changed between her son and 'Roo'.

Ms Davis went on to say her son was afraid something was going to happen and she started to hear him on the phone to "a fella called Smythser".

Ms Davis said two men had come looking for her son at her home one night after Christmas in 2021. Jordan, she said, had rang and was screaming at her to get out of the house as there were two men outside her home. She said Jordan sounded very scared but she couldn't leave.

When Ms Davis looked out the window she saw "a big white flash fancy car" and two men were shouting “Where’s Jordan? Where's the fucking pr**k”. She asked the men not to discuss her son's business on the street and to come inside.

The men came into the sitting room, one of them was "huge with dark hair and had a beard and muscles" and was being called 'Smythser' by "the other fella". The "other smaller lad", who she knew to see from around the area, was Sean Little and "doing all the talking".

Little, another 22-year-old from Coolock, was later found shot dead beside a burning car near Balbriggan off the M1 in Dublin on May 21,st2019 - the day before Jordan Davis was murdered.

Ms Davis said Little told her that Jordan was supposed to meet them at the house as he owed €50K and €70K. She said Little was calling Jordan "a little pr**k".

She added: "He told me he didn’t give a f**k and that he wasn't leaving without the money. He told me he knew where my mother lived.

He told me that Jordan was flashing cash and spending their money on food and taxis. He told me 'you know your son is going to be getting buried with your daughter'. This got me very upset. I told them I had no money. They told me to ring Jordan".

Ms Davis said she tried to ring Jordan but he didn't answer her calls or their calls. "He text to say to tell them he was in hospital. This made him angrier".

Ms Davis said 'Smythser' didn’t say anything and was just sitting there staring at them. She said Little told her she would be identifying her son in a coffin. She added: "I don’t know why he said that. He told me Jordan was going to be shot. I was getting very upset".

Ms Davis said Little "had kept going with this sort of stuff" until 'Smythser' said "look leave it there, we should get out of here".

She said 'Smythser' told her "look you talk to Jordan, I'm taking your word that you will sort this out". She said the two men then went off in the car.

Ms Davis added: "I was raging with Jordan. I texted him that they were gone. He said he would ring tomorrow. Jordan came home the day after, he said that it was 'Smythser' and Sean Little that were at the house".

"He said he had to give them €5,000 per week to sort it but he said he could only pay €3,000. He told me that he could get €3,000 and that he sent someone over to Tesco Clarehall car park with the money a few days after".

She said Jordan told her in January 2019 that he was still paying money over to 'Smythser'.

Referring to a separate incident in March 2019, Ms Davis said she had heard someone trying to get in her front door and then saw 'five fellas' in her garden. One of them shouted at Ms Davis: "Tell Jordan to pay his f**king bills, it's not over, tell Jordan we'll be back".

She said the entire front of her house was smashed up and not a pane of glass was left. She said she never went back to her house after that and was very angry with Jordan for putting her and her family in danger.

She said Jordan became constantly stressed and pale but then "all of a sudden" he had no fear.

Ms Davis said Jordan told her the week he was murdered that 'a guy' with 'North Face' gloves was going around the estate on an orange bike. She said someone had convinced Jordan he was fine, that it was alright for him to be out in Darndale and that the man was looking for someone else.

Ms Davis said she was on a bus on May 22, 2019 when she was told there had been a shooting in Darndale. She said her niece then rang her to tell her Jordan was dead. She saw her son lying on the ground in the lane, which she said was "every mother's worst nightmare".

"Tick Lists"

It was the State's case that the defendant's brother Robert Redmond was engaged "in some acrimony" with Mr Davis in the weeks leading up to his death.

"Tick lists" were found at two addresses linked to drug dealer Robert Redmond which contained the name "Jordo" - the same nickname Jordan Davis was known by.

The first "tick list" was found on November 19th 2018 at a house in Kinsealy, which belonged to the sister of Robert Redmond's ex-partner.

On the top left hand corner of one page was the nickname 'Jordo' owing €153,000. There was a list of dates in chronological order and the last figure showed €95,100.

A second "tick list" in a copybook was found by gardaí at Robert Redmond's home at Woodview Close in Donaghmede on January 30, 2019.

On the list was the name "Jordo" with €70,000 written beside one entry with the words "not yet" in capital letters. Other items found included luxury handbags, sunglasses and €8,000 in cash which were in €50 notes.

Career criminal Robert Redmond has 99 previous convictions which include two counts for possession of firearms and ammunition with intention to endanger life as well as a life sentence for murder. He also has convictions for blackmail and extortion, threats to kill and assault causing harm.

The court heard that in May 2013, he pleaded guilty to the possession of heroin worth almost €37,000 and was jailed for five years.

In 2022, Redmond was sentenced to 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 17, 2020.

"I'm on your case mate, it won't be long"

Detectives found a thread of 'WhatsApp' messages between Mr Davis' phone and a phone number saved on the deceased's handset as 'Rew', which ended in the numbers 858. The messages had been exchanged between the drug dealers just 19 days before Mr Davis was murdered.

A series of messages were sent from the number saved as 'Rew' to Mr Davis' phone at 9.49am on the morning of May 3, 2019 beginning with: "How much you give him in total about 3k".

Another message sent a minute later from the number saved as 'Rew' to Mr Davis said: "You haven't gave him anymore than 10K you owed 70K so thats how you owe 60K or over" [sic].

Mr Davis sent a message at 1.29pm saying: "3K get your facts right to you even talk to him pal".

'Rew' said: "You gave Smithzer 20k??"

Mr Davis replied: "You should no how many times you think he was seen get with it Robert".

'Rew' said: "I haven't talked to Smithzer in ages" followed by "I'll get someone to contact him now".

Mr Davis replied: "Well the encro away there lad".

The number saved as 'Rew' says at 1.34pm "wat you mean" and then "they didn't add anything on" followed by "someone be onto you today".

Mr Davis replies: "Classic Robert" to which 'Rew' asked "you on the gear or something".

At 1.36pm 'Rew' says to Mr Davis: "Lad who you trying to be".

A minute later 'Rew' sent a message to Mr Davis' phone saying: "Fucking clown that can't pay bills trying to be a big man. I heard a lot about you trust me I'll get you soon".

'Rew' also says in a message: "I'm on your case mate it won't be long" followed by a series of 13 or 14 laughing emojis.

The next message sent from 'Rew' to Mr Davis at 1.38pm says: "Get off me phone soon, very soon bang bang" to which Mr Davis replies: "Nice one mate".

Robert Redmond's partner Aisling McNally testified that she had told gardai in May 2019 that Robert Redmond had used a number ending in 858.

Aisling McNally

Aisling McNally gave evidence that she had been going out with Rachel Redmond's brother Robert Redmond, of Streamville Road in Donaghmede for about three years in May 2019 before their relationship fell apart. Ms McNally said she referred to him as Robert but others called him "Roo".

The former partner of the drug dealer said she had dropped Robert off at Donaghmede Shopping Centre on the afternoon of May 22 and he told her he was meeting friends at Belcamp Lane.

Ms McNally said she later picked up Robert from a halting site at Belcamp Lane around 4.13pm - just minutes after Mr Davis was shot to death in the laneway.

The witness recalled May 22 2019 as she said Sean Little had been murdered in Coolock the previous day.

Clayton Hotel

Rachel Redmond was identified by detectives as the woman who appears on CCTV footage of the lobby of the Clayton Hotel near Dublin Airport after midnight on May 23, 2019.

Samuel McGarry, who worked as an assistant night manager for the Clayton Hotel at Dublin Airport in May 2022, confirmed that a booking had been made for Rachel Redmond on May 22nd 2019 through booking.com. He said the booking was made at 11.02pm on May 22 and that a person giving their name as Rachel Redmond had checked in to the hotel at 00.05 on May 23.

'Not performing the sort of slick getaway you see in the movies"

In their closing speech, the prosecution had described Ms Redmond's testimony that she didn't know Wayne Cooney had committed "any crime at all" when she drove him away from the scene and later checked him into a hotel as "absolutely risible".

Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing SC, for the State, added: "The accused is saying 'I didn't know'; If you said that to a horse you would get a kick".

The prosecutor said Mr Davis had been shot in "callous circumstances" with a semi-automatic weapon in broad daylight in the vicinity of a school and there was no doubt that Cooney was the murderer.

He said Cooney had acted like "a shark patrolling the ocean looking for its prey" when he was seen on an orange bicycle hanging around the Darndale area for days prior to the murder.

The lawyer submitted that Stacey Hayes had given "uncontradicted evidence" that she was directed to pick up Cooney at the precise location where the gunman was last seen on CCTV footage.

Mr Ó Dúnlaing asked the jury to look at the manner in which Ms Redmond picked up Cooney after the murder and the manner in which she checked him into the hotel. He said the accused was "hiding" her then-partner.

The barrister added: "Are you seriously being asked to accept she did not know?"

Mr Ó Dúnlaing said the accused has had a couple of years to think about what "cock and bull story" she could tell a jury of her peers when the matter came on for trial.

Whereas the defence argued in their closing address that their client was not performing "the sort of slick getaway you see in the movies" when she collected Cooney from a bus stop just minutes after he murdered Mr Davis.

The defence urged the jurors not to convict Ms Redmond because of the sins of other people around her. "We can't point the finger at Rachel Redmond because her boyfriend is the killer and her brother is involved. You can't convict her by association," Dominic McGinn SC said.