Kevin Conway: victim sent voice memo to partner minutes before he was gunned down, Belfast court hears as men charged with his murder

Mr Conway (26) was shot multiple times on January 9 this year at a house he was living at in Belfast while on bail charged with the murder of another Lurgan man Shane Whitla in Lurgan on January last year.

In the dock at Belfast Magistrates Court were Fergal Kane, aged 53 and Aidan O’Keefe, aged 27, both charged with murdering Kevin Conway, plus possession of a firearm and ammunition, namely a shotgun and a handgun with intent to endanger life.

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The District Judge imposed an interim ban on the media revealing their addresses after concerns were raised by the prosecution. While the Prosecutor and the PSNI said there was no specific information regarding any possible threats to the defendants, their defence solicitor also raised concerns.

The defendants, flanked by five prison officers, were asked if they understood the charges and their solicitor, Philip Breen, responded that they did understand. The District Judge asked the solicitor if the defendants were “not proposing to answer”. The solicitor said: “I’m answering for them.”

Mr Breen challenged the strength of the Prosecution’s evidence to connect the accused to the charges. He said his clients’ family were in court and had brought a suit of clothes for his clients to wear and left them into the police station but “the police at Musgrave Street refused to allow them to wear those clothes to court”.

A Prosecutor laid out a detailed set of questions to a Detective Chief Inspector investigating the murder of Kevin Conway who said that Mr Conway was at his home in the Grennan area in Belfast and was shot multiple times. He also told the court that two weapons were used in the attack including a shotgun and a handgun.

He added: “The shotgun appeared to be somewhat ineffective and it did cause a head injury but that would not have been fatal. But the handgun was, sadly, very effective and caused the death of Mr Conway – believed to be fairly quickly.”

He said there were two vehicles, a white Toyota Proace van, which can be linked to O’Keefe and a BMW, which is linked to Kane. The van, the court heard, is a company vehicle which was in O’Keefe’s possession between January 3 until the morning after the shooting – January 10.

The DCI said police believe O’Keefe had the van, which was part of a fleet equipped with GPS tracking devices, with him during the day of the murder at his place of work until he arrived at his home address at 5pm.

He said O’Keefe drove to the Royal Victoria Hospital and checked into the Accident and Emergency Department. Three hours later he pays for the parking and the van leaves the A&E but had not made staff aware he was leaving at around 8.30pm.

At 18.52 there is a call between the two defendants, the DCI told the court. He added there were substantial number of messages and calls two days prior to the shooting between the pair. The officer provided a detailed outline of the GPS tracking of the van in various areas of West Belfast.

Meanwhile, the court heard, Kane’s vehicle is sighted via police ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) on the M1 motorway exiting at Broadway at 20.42 and both vehicles meet and make their way to an area close to where the murder took place.

The DCI said that after the vehicles stop at 9.09pm, two men are spotted emerging from a “cut through” at Tullagh Park to Rossnareen Park at 9.14pm. One was dressed in dark clothing with his face covered in a dark material and the other was dressed in a dark coat, light jogging type trousers and light trainers also with a dark face covering. One of the men was described as carrying a hand gun.

The court was told that Mr Conway sent a voice memo to his partner at 21.18. The DCI said: “He recorded a small snapshot of what he was doing and said he was playing the Playstation. At 21.20 the same camera that caught the two men on foot in Rossnareen Avenue are seen to retrace their steps. We suggest the shooting has taken place at that point. The tracking data for Mr O’Keefe’s van shows that it switches on at 21.22 and leaves Rossnareen Avenue followed by Mr Kane’s car.”

Court heard the van was subsequently located by police. A team of plain clothes officers covertly observed the van ahead of seizing it and, as it was being observed, three men dressed in dark clothing, approached the van, the court was told.

“An officer shouted a warning to colleagues and the three men made off on foot. It is my belief these men were there to either destroy the van or take it away and put it out of police hands,” said the DCI.

He also stated that swabs taken from the BMW for cartridge discharge residue (CDR) showed one indicative particle from the boot and one from the front passenger footwell and the driver’s seat of the BMW.

The officer added that neither men answered questions in police custody.

Mr Breen said there was “a considerable amount of material which they were hearing for the first time even though I have been in the custody suite with my clients for the last 48 hours”.

The District Judge said he was “entirely satisfied” there was enough information to connect the accused to the charges. The case was adjourned until February 20. With neither defendant seeking bail, they were remanded in custody until that date.