A New York barman, who claims Aaron Brady told him he shot a Garda during a robbery that went wrong, has denied ever being a member of the Real IRA.

Aaron Brady of New Road, Crossmaglen, County Armagh denies murdering Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe during an armed robbery in 2013.

Giving evidence via video link from New York yesterday, Daniel Cahill said he heard Aaron Brady say on three different occasions that he’d shot a Garda.

Mr Cahill, who moved from Dublin in 2013, was working in a bar in the Bronx.

He also claimed Mr Brady told him an article about a man who was living it up in New York after killing a cop was about him.

Under cross-examination today, he told Justin McQuade that he strongly denied being a member of the ‘Ryan Crew’ or the ‘Dublin IRA.’

He said he knew Alan Ryan, the head of the Real IRA in Dublin who was shot dead in 2012, but he described the suggestion he was a member as “ridiculous.”

The judge described the question as “outrageous and unacceptable.” He told the witness he shouldn’t have been asked that, and Mr McQuade apologised.

Aaron Brady denies shooting Detective Adrian Donohoe during an armed robbery outside Lordship Credit Union in January 2013.

Reporting from Frank Greaney