Man charged with murder of West Belfast man Kevin Conway – Court hears ‘one-way flight to America’ – The Irish News

A man accused of a gang-related murder in west Belfast is said to have enquired online about a one-way flight to the US before turning himself in to police, the High Court heard on Monday.

Prosecutors alleged that 27-year-old Aidan O'Keefe conducted the Internet search for the “organized assassination attempt” on Kevin Conway.

Mr Conway, 26, was shot multiple times in his Rossnareen Park home on January 9 this year.

He was linked to a notorious criminal organisation known as The Firm and was out on bail for the murder of Shane Whitla in Lurgan, Co Armagh, 12 months earlier.

Police said he was gunned down just minutes after he sent a message to his partner saying he was relaxing at home on the Playstation.

It is believed that the killers entered the property and opened fire with a shotgun and a pistol.

O'Keefe and co-defendant Fergal Kane, 54, were charged with murder as part of an alleged joint plot.

Both men, whose addresses in Belfast cannot be given, are also accused of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

Neither of them is suspected of committing the shooting.

Instead, investigators claimed the couple traveled to the scene of the attack in a convoy of a van and a car.

The two are said to be linked by video surveillance recordings, a tracking device and license plates from the night of the murder.

According to the police report, O'Keefe left the Royal Victoria Hospital in the early evening and drove his Toyota Proace van through several streets in the west of the city before meeting Kane's BMW.

The vehicles are said to have been parked near the victim's house at the time of the murder.

Based on video surveillance recordings and GPRS tracking data, the van and car subsequently left the area and separated.

Two suspected shooters who were seen walking in the neighborhood after the shooting have not yet been caught.

After Kane was released on bail earlier this month, O'Keefe filed a similar motion to be released from custody.

The prosecutor claimed that the two were “at least inextricably linked to the planning, preparation and facilitation of the murder.”

She opposed bail, saying detectives suspected O'Keefe had planned to leave Northern Ireland before his arrest.

“On January 24, two days before he turned himself in to the police, he used a co-worker's phone to search on Google 'Can I get a one-way flight to America?'” the lawyer explained.

The court heard that O'Keefe also bought a new mobile phone and withdrew £250 in cash, which never resurfaced.

The lawyer added: “We are concerned about the brutality of what appears to be an organised attack on Mr Conway.”

She told the court that O'Keefe had apparently been “inducted” into the dissident republican wing while on remand at HMP Maghaberry.

Defense attorney Michael Forde insisted that O'Keefe must be released from custody to ensure equal treatment with his co-defendant.

“The case against this applicant appears to be based on suspicion rather than evidence,” he claimed.

Mr Forde stressed that his client had strong ties to his local community and had never attempted to leave the jurisdiction.

Judge McFarland adjourned the motion and requested further information regarding the circumstances of the alleged Internet search.

The judge said: “I would be reluctant to grant bail unless there was a reasonable explanation for why your client googled 'how do I get a one-way flight to America?'.”