A garda has confirmed that Jonathan Dowdall told him the alleged meeting with Gerry Hutch in which he “confessed” happened on the same day Eddie Hutch was murdered.
The development came during today’s hearing of the trial of Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch before the Special Criminal Court for the murder of David Byrne.
Hutch (59) denies murdering Kinahan cartel associate Byrne (34) in the foyer of Dublin’s Regency Hotel on February 5, 2016.
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The court has already heard in detail a claim from State witness Jonathan Dowdall that Hutch met him in a park in Whitehall in Dublin, and that the accused man confessed to him to the murder of David Byrne.
Today, on what is the 11th week of the non-jury trial, Brendan Grehan SC, defending for Hutch, recalled Detective Garda Cathal Connolly, who was involved in a number of interviews with Dowdall in which he first made the bombshell claims.
Mr Grehan read out a portion of Det Garda Connolly’s notes from an interview in May 2022 in which he states that Dowdall told him about the confession from Hutch in the park - on February 8, 2016, three days after the Regency shooting occurred.
“He told me a lot of innocent people were going to be killed. He was all over the place and told me he wasn’t happy about killing the young lad David Byrne,” Dowdall told him, according to his notes.
“He was upset, panicked and all over the place. He never told me that it was him that did it again.
“I think it was later that night I got a phone call from Kay asking had I heard from Patsy, and she told me that Neddy had been shot and killed.”
Mr Grehan then put to the witness his notes in relation to a second interview with Dowdall in July of 2022 - and said that it appeared from his notes that the encounter occurred on February 8 - the same day that Eddie Hutch, a brother of the accused, was murdered.
Detective Garda Connolly said that Dowdall later clarified that the meeting with Hutch occurred after a Sunday World article was published with photos of two of the alleged gunmen involved.
He also confirmed that Dowdall said the meet-up in the park definitely happened before Eddie Hutch was shot dead shortly before 8pm on February 8.
Mr Grehan then read out a note that Detective Garda Connolly made about the interview with Dowdall.
In it Det Garda Connolly wrote that Dowdall told him that Hutch “had a hat on him in the park” and that the meeting happened between 11am and 12pm on the “day Neddy was killed.”
Mr Grehan then read out an email also sent by Detective Garda Connolly detailing the interview further in which he said “meeting at approximately 11am/midday,” and added that “Patsy’s wife later phoned JD that night.”
The reference was to the fact that Dowdall claimed that Patsy Hutch’s wife Kay had rang him to tell him that Eddie Hutch had been murdered on the night of February 8, 2016.
Mr Grehan said that from all of this it “seemed to nail down that it was the day Eddie Hutch was murdered and it was between 11 and 12 that day.
He asked the witness if that was fair, to which Detective Garda Connolly stated that that was what was said.
In a third meeting with Dowdall in September 2022, further notes furnished by Detective Garda Connolly state that he had told them the meet with Hutch in the park happened “in the morning time around 11:30am.”
Following this cross-examination, Prosecuting Counsel Sean Gillane asked Detective Garda Connolly about a 42 page document made by Dowdall and given to gardai at the interview in July.
He pointed out that in this Dowdall had said he “can’t remember what day it was” when the alleged meeting with Hutch happened - adding that it would however have been after a picture of alleged gunmen involved in the Regency was published in the Sunday World on February 7.
Mr Gillane also asked the witness about Dowdall's demeanour during this interview - and Detective Garda Connolly said he was talking in "a stream of consciousness."
"It was coming very fast, albeit not in a structured format," he said. He got emotional on occasions."
The court has already heard that phone analysis work done by an expert determined that Dowdall’s phone pinged off a mast in the Navan Road area at 11:58am and then in the Dundalk area at 1pm on February 8th - the same date and times in which he claimed the meeting with Hutch happened in Whitehall.
When this was put to Dowdall on the witness stand before Christmas he said “then it wasn’t the 8th was it?”
This is set to be further explored by phone analysis expert Sarah Skeed, who is to be the final witness for the prosecution tomorrow.
Mr Grehan previously put it to Dowdall that he had repeatedly given gardai the impression that it was on the 8th, as this was the same day he later got a call from Patsy Hutch’s wife Kay who told him that Eddie Hutch had been shot dead.
Mr Grehan challenged Dowdall that these were “kind of two very significant events” in his life, and said it “should be clear in your mind.”
But Dowdall said he wasn’t “100 percent sure” if he met Hutch on the Sunday or the Monday morning and insisted he had told gardai this.
The phone record had confirmed that Dowdall did receive a phone call from Patsy’s wife at 8:20pm on the Monday, shortly after Eddie Hutch, a brother of the accused, had been shot dead at his home in the inner city.
It was further put to Dowdall that the phone records did show his phone pinging off a mast in Whitehall on the Sunday - at 3:16pm.
The witness said his memory was that he met Hutch in the park in the morning, but, maybe it was a different time.
Mr Grehan followed that up by saying that throughout this time Dowdall had always been clear that he said he met Hutch between 11am and midday.
“Are we going to move time time are we? To suit the record?” he asked him.
Earlier today, the court also heard from a witness named Paul Brady - a man who rented a taxi plate to co-accused man Paul Murphy.
Murphy denies facilitating the murder of David Byrne by providing his taxi to aid the hit-team in escaping following the Regency Hotel shooting on February 5, 2016.
Mr Brady, who said he was in the taxi trade for over 15 years said he rented a plate to Murphy who was driving an 07D Toyota Avensis.
He confirmed to Prosecuting Counsel Sean Gillane SC that gardai called to his home and he cooperated in giving them a copy of Mr Murphy’s licence.
Bernard Condon SC Defending for Murphy then asked the witness if he ever had any experience of anyone cloning taxis in the industry.
Mr Brady said he had experience of having cars cloned “twice, three times.”
Explaining how it works he said someone can get a car of the same make and colour and then change the registration and sticker in the corner.
He said that “it is a problem for multiple plate owners” and said that it is well known about within the industry.
Earlier in the trial the court had heard how Mr Murphy told gardai that he believed his vehicle might have been cloned as he insisted he had no involvement in the Regency shooting incident.
The trial continues.
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