Trial of gangland boss Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch begins amid high security
High security will be evident at the Criminal Courts of Justice again today, with armed, elite police units present, backed up by public order gardaí. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie
One of the biggest ever gangland trials in Ireland is set to start today, as the State opens its case against Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch for the murder that ignited the Kinahan-Hutch feud.
The case comes just 24 hours after Jonathan Dowdall — the State’s key witness in the prosecution of Mr Hutch and possibly two other accused — was given a four-year jail term for his role in the notorious gun attack at the Regency Hotel in 2016.
That sentence — and the two-year term given to his father Patrick Dowdall — are the first sentences handed down for the murder of David Byrne, aged 34, at the north Dublin hotel.
Amid speculation that Jonathan Dowdall’s decision to turn State’s witness could see him receive a wholly suspended sentence, the non-jury Special Criminal Court said it could not consider such a sanction, given the “gravity” of the crime and the “consequences” of it.
The shooting dead of Byrne, a Kinahan cartel lieutenant from Crumlin, unleashed the most intense killing spree ever seen in Irish organised crime, with an estimated 18 murders in Ireland and Spain linked to the feud.
High security will be evident at the Criminal Courts of Justice again today, with armed, elite police units present, backed up by public order gardaí.
The Hutch trial is provisionally set to run for 12 weeks, but could spill over into Christmas and January, barristers have indicated to the three-judge court.
Yesterday morning, Jonathan Dowdall, aged 44, and Patrick Dowdall, aged 65, both of Navan Rd, Cabra, were driven by gardaí to the complex, accompanied by two military jeeps.
Former Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan Dowdall had originally been charged, along with Mr Hutch, with the murder of Mr Byrne, but the DPP withdrew the charges.
Both he and his father pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of facilitating the commission of a serious offence by a criminal organisation — i.e. the murder of Byrne — by providing a room at the hotel to the gang.
When the Special Criminal Court was told two weeks ago that Jonathan Dowdall had given a statement against his co-accused and was being assessed for inclusion in the Witness Security Programme, it sent shockwaves through organised crime and legal circles.
Counsel for Mr Hutch said they had to carry out a “fundamental reappraisal” of their defence strategy.
They indicated a week ago that they hoped to be able to proceed today.
It comes some 20 years after John Gilligan was put on trial in 2002 for the murder of Veronica Guerin in June 1996, a charge he was acquitted of in the Special Criminal Court.
Two Gilligan gang members, Brian Meehan and Paul Ward, were convicted of her murder — based in part on evidence of protected witness and murder accomplice Charlie Bowden. Ward’s conviction was quashed on appeal in a judgement that strongly criticised Bowden’s evidence.
In yesterday’s sentencing, Mr Justice Tony Hunt said Jonathan Dowdall knew he was assisting a serious criminal organisation and that he “continued to associate” with them after the Regency attack.
He also referred to the defendant’s previous conviction of “serious violence” — the torture of a man he and his father suspected of defrauding them.
Mr Justice Hunt, sitting with Judge Martin Nolan and Judge James Faughnan, put the relevant headline sentence for Jonathan Dowdall at eight years.
Including the guilty plea, this reduced the sentence to six years.
The judge mentioned the “extraordinary” additional factor — the defendant’s decision to give a statement of evidence against others.
However, Mr Justice Hunt said the court did not consider a wholly suspended sentence, given the “gravity of the crime and the consequences of that crime”.
He acknowledged that Dowdall’s life, and that of his family, had been “upended” by his decision to give evidence against his former accused, and this had placed them in “significant peril”.
Taking in all the factors, the court arrived at a final sentence of four years — 50% off the headline sentence. Patrick Dowdall received a final sentence of two years, backdated.
The court agreed to defer imprisonment for two weeks to allow the Dowdalls to get certain affairs in order.
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