Six minutes, six gunshot wounds – Court views 'upsetting' CCTV footage from Regency Hotel

On the second day of Gerard Hutch's trial, court views dozens of clips from the Regency Hotel on the day David Byrne was killed

The court viewed CCTV video images from the Regency Hotel in Dublin on February 6, 2016, when David Byrne was killed. File picture

As per the footage, the group of men who attacked the Regency Hotel on February 5, 2016, first entered the building at 2.28pm, and left in a speeding van at 2.34pm.

They were in and out in just over six minutes.

On the second day of the trial of Gerard Hutch, who stands accused of the murder of David Byrne, the court saw dozens of CCTV clips showing events at the hotel from that day, and the night before.

Prior to these clips being shown, prosecution counsel Sean Gillane SC told the court that some of the imagery could be “upsetting” and “difficult viewing”.

Ms Justice Tara Burns referenced the fact that some students were in attendance at the trial and urged them to take on what Mr Gillane had said as, indeed, the footage may be “distressing”.

In minute detail, and from different angles, the court was shown events as they unfolded over those few minutes as captured by CCTV cameras.

The accused, Gerry Hutch, is escorted to the CCJ in Dublin on day two of his trial. He is accused of the murder of David Byrne in 2016. Picture: Sam Boal/RollingNews

And, indeed, day two of this trial was very much focused on images from the Regency Hotel. Prior to the footage being shown, the court also heard evidence from photographers who were there on that day.

Garda Michelle Purcell, from the divisional technical support unit at Santry Garda Station, talked through this footage under questioning from Mr Gillane.

The clips began with an exterior shot showing a car park on the left-hand side and a back gate leading out towards a housing estate. It is 2.21pm, February 5, 2016.

The gates open slowly as a van arrives, coming from the background towards the foreground of the shot, towards the Regency.

At 2.28pm, two men exit the van and head towards an entrance to the Regency through a laundry room. One of the men was wearing a flat cap and the other was dressed as a woman, wearing a wig.

The court saw multiple angles of them entering the building, and then linking arms as they walked down the corridor towards the venue within the hotel where the boxing weigh-in was taking place.

They were both carrying handguns. “The person in the wig is constantly on the phone,” Garda Purcell remarked, as she described events from the various cameras.

The court has already heard evidence that there was “panic” and “mayhem” when the man in the flat cap and the man dressed as a woman began to open fire at the event.

And the clips shown in court show people running within the hotel and out of the hotel, after the shooting had begun.

Armed gardaí outside the Special Criminal Court in Dublin where Gerry "The Monk" Hutch is charged with the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in 2016.  Picture: Niall Carson/PA

The court was also shown one man from the clips, who is seen running outside the Regency towards the car park. This is after the shooting had started.

The footage shows him running across that car park.

It also shows the pair in the flat cap and in the women’s clothing running out in this direction, before turning back the opposite direction and in again through the laundry room, the way they first came in.

Separately, footage was shown of three men disguised as gardaí in tactical gear exit the van and enter through the front entrance of the Regency at 2.32pm.

The clips show that as this trio enters the hotel, people are already running out of the building.

In a view of the hotel lobby, a clip showed that shots were fired at Mr Byrne here, and he falls by the front of the reception desk. Another person jumps over the reception desk and attempts to hide.

One of the men in tactical gear remains in the lobby and vaults over the reception desk. He appears to look at the man hiding before jumping again over the desk. The footage showed him shooting Mr Byrne from close range.

Separate evidence from Dr Michael Curtis, deputy State pathologist who attended the scene and performed a post-mortem on Mr Byrne, said he bore evidence of “catastrophic gunshot injuries”.

Dr Curtis said he was shot six times and died due to these wounds.

The court also saw the men run through a number of sections of the hotel, including the bar, after this, before they all leave.

In one of the clips showing a view of the lobby looking towards the entrance, the feet of the deceased could be seen protruding at the edge of the screen as the three men in tactical gear leave the building.

They hop aboard the van which exits through the same gate it had entered just under 15 minutes ago.

Further footage, the CCTV of a home, shows six people running towards St Vincent’s GAA Club at 2.41pm. It was then that the prosecution turned to some different footage, altogether, this time from the evening of Thursday February 4, 2016.

This time, the court was shown footage of Patrick Dowdall check into the Regency Hotel the night before the shootings.

Patrick Dowdall was given a final sentence of two years imprisonment by the non-jury Special Criminal Court for facilitating the gang by making a hotel room available ahead of the murder. He was sentenced along with his son Jonathan, a former Sinn Féin councillor.

Again, through multiple clips from separate angles, the court saw CCTV of Patrick Dowdall enter the Regency Hotel just before 7.30pm on Thursday, February 4.

Paying in cash, he receives key cards to check into his room. He takes the lift to the second floor, enters the room and leaves just a few minutes later.

He goes out the way he came in.

Less than an hour later, a man identified as Kevin Murray is seen on the CCTV getting out of a taxi outside the Regency Hotel.

Carrying a bag, Murray goes straight to the room. Footage also showed him leaving the room with a bag the following morning — the day of the shooting — before 10am. After requesting a taxi at reception, he entered one and left the building. The shooting then takes place several hours later during the boxing weigh in.

It is expected that further CCTV evidence will be shown in the coming days.

Photographers' evidence

Also giving evidence today was Colin O’Riordan, a newspaper photographer who was there on the day.

The court would later see CCTV footage of him outside the hotel as the gunmen were leaving it.

Mr O’Riordan told the court he was in fear of his life and tried to make himself as “unthreatening as possible” as they walked by.

He had earlier been in attendance with reporter Robin Schiller at the weigh-in, and said that Mr Schiller had said he “spotted Daniel Kinahan”. They went outside to the front steps of the hotel and Mr O’Riordan described hearing a bang.

He then said he saw two individuals dressed as gardaí carrying AK-47s on the steps of the hotel. He said his one thought as they entered the building was “no gardaí use AK-47s” and that it was “completely bogus”.

Ernie Leslie, another photographer who gave evidence at the trial, described being outside and seeing people running from the hotel in a panicked state.

After taking a series of shots of the scene before him, he described his colleague shouting at him to get out because he saw “a gun swinging around pointing at us”.

Mr O’Riordan also described remarks he heard from one of the men on the way out.

“I heard him say, ‘he wasn’t there, I couldn’t find him’,” he told the court.

The trial continues tomorrow as the prosecution continues to present its case before the non-jury court.