The trial of Gerry “The Monk” Hutch yesterday heard him claim that rivals the Kinahans were obsessed with power.
The non-jury Special Criminal Court was being played a bugged conversation between the 59-year-old and former Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall. Hutch can be heard telling state witness Dowdall: “It’s power as well, not just the money. It’s the bleeding power as well.”
And in another section of the chat he says he hopes Sinn Fein get elected, adding: “I can’t wait for this election. I hope the Shinners take over and set up their own hit squad.” Hutch, who denies the February 2016 murder of Kinahan ally David Byrne at the Regency Airport Hotel in north Dublin, told Dowdall the Kinahan cartel wanted to be so big the Colombian drug outfits would seek them out.
Read more: Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch makes stunning statement in prison
He stated: “They want to be the biggest gang in Europe, all the Colombians and all would come to them.” Hutch made the comments during a 10-hour journey to and from the North with Dowdall, whose jeep had been bugged by the Garda National Surveillance Unit.
The recording was made on March 7, 2016, just a month after the gun attack at the Regency. In it Dowdall, who has admitted facilitating the murder and was last month jailed for four years, asks Hutch if gardai will push hard to get to the bottom of what happened.
Hutch replies: “They will try all the avenues. I don’t think they have that much to go on, I don’t f***ing know to
tell you the truth.” Dowdall then turns to the media and political reaction to Byrne’s funeral which was held in central Dublin and drew fierce criticism.
He says: “I think the best that happened was Byrne’s funeral, that took it completely away from...” Hutch interrupts with: “It makes them, shows them what they really are.”
Dowdall, in a reference to Daniel Kinahan, says: “I’d say he is sorry he ever done this.” And Hutch replies: “Ah, so would I.”
Dowdall then states the Kinahans should have stuck to a deal hammered out between both sides, adding: “They had a good business going and their own f***ing paranoia power mongering thing ruins it. If you were in that game, you wouldn’t deal with them would you?”
Hutch tells him: “Lots of people who were in the game with them over the years have walked away from them.”
Dowdall then asks how the Kinahans got so big given they were just a father and two sons. Hutch replies: “They used the best of the young fellas. Daniel was wide enough. They made a good living but they started making big money a few years ago.” Dowdall says: “They’re blinded by the greed.”
And Hutch answers: “It’s power as well, not just the money. It’s the bleeding power as well. They want to be the biggest gang in Europe, all the Colombians and all would come to them and all.”
“They want hundreds of millions,” Dowdall says. But Hutch replies: “Don’t want f***ing hundreds of millions. No hassle, no nothing.”
Dowdall asks: “I don’t think any country would let them in now Gerard do you? I’d say any country they go to in Europe they be scourged in it till they leave, d’ya know what I mean?” In another clip, Dowdall is heard laughing as he says: “All the Garda seem to want outta this is their bleeding submachine guns back.”
Hutch states: “Yeah, their overtime. Them submachine guns, them Uzis and all that, they’re all lethal. They’re no good”. Dowdall replies: “They’re not worth a bollix.”
Hutch says: “They’re dangerous f***ing things now the other ones, them heckler.” Dowdall asks: “They’re the ones they want back Gerard, is it?” Hutch answers: “Probably.”
Dowdall then says: “The Uzis are all lethal, there’s no controlling them Uzis, they just spray all over the kip. We wanna try to find out where that c*** is that tried to get you in Spain and we be up Saturday. I’ll take a trip over and show him, will I?”
Hutch answers “yes” and Dowdall tells him he can “cancel at any time”. Dowdall goes on: “I’d say by Friday night we’ll hear what the story is. They said they’re going to meet them in the next day or two.”
Hutch replies “I’d say so yeah” and Dowdall asks: “Will Kinahan meet them?” Hutch states: “I’ll say he’ll meet them in London... You wouldn’t know with them, you know they could be playing both sides of the coin.”
Dowdall says: “No, they’re not gonna do that Gerard.” Hutch replies: “They’re gonna put this to bed on both sides.”
But Dowdall insists: “No they wouldn’t do it to ya, I’m telling ya they won’t do that. I know for a fact they won’t do it. I bet me life on it. They’d f*** too many people over if they do that Gerard.
“No, get that outta your head, they wouldn’t do that. Guaranteed. Not a f***ing chance.”
Dowdall then changes the conversation and says: “It’s hard to talk to normal people when you’ve all that other stuff going on.”
He tells Hutch he keeps “changing the chip” in his phone and that every night he hides the chip, adding: “They said to Patsy give us the code off the phone.”
Hutch says: “I wouldn’t give them the code. If they broke into the phone, it’d be inadmissible.” Dowdall says “even when they delete the texts it’s still on the phone” and that he “wouldn’t leave [his] phone lying around”.
Transcripts of the recordings, which are being relied on by the prosecution, were displayed on several screens in the courtroom.
They have been described as “part of the core” of the State’s case in the trial of Hutch, last of The Paddocks, Clontarf, Dublin. Last week, the three judges ruled they would listen to the 10 hours of conversations between
the accused and Dowdall that were captured by gardai, despite having heard that Dowdall’s bugged jeep had been outside of the State during the majority of the recordings.
The non-jury court has now been played all 10 hours of audio recordings from 2.20pm on Monday, March 7, 2016, into the early hours of Tuesday, March 8.
Outlining his objections to the use of the recordings, Hutch’s barrister Brendan Grehan SC said that for almost eight of the 10 hours the bug was recording – from 3.10pm to 10.50pm – the Land Cruiser was in Northern Ireland.
He told the court the Criminal Surveillance Act 2009 is “as clear as can be” that an authorisation for a surveillance device can only apply within the State, adding: “That much is obvious to anyone reading the Act and to those who have to operate the Act.”
He said gardai from the Crime and Security section and the National Surveillance Unit who gave evidence during the trial had taken care to say they don’t conduct surveillance outside the State because they know that the Act does not permit them to do so.
The barrister added: “But that is exactly what the court is being asked to permit to be introduced into
this case. It’s the fruits of surveillance taken outside the State.
“The circumstances in which surveillance can be used are strictly delineated by the terms of the Act
but here the evidence suggests clearly that the bug in this case gathered surveillance while on a vehicle outside the State.”
Mr Grehan said gardai using the tracking device and bug “knew this was likely to happen” and knew as soon as the Land Cruiser crossed the border because the tracker was giving them real time information. He added: “The State in this case was acting illegally once it harvested material in breach of its own Act and the protection within it.
“The State cannot be allowed to benefit from its own illegality and the fruits of that harvest should not be admitted into the trial.” Counsel described as “ridiculous” any suggestion that the evidence relating to the Land Cruiser had “fallen into the lap of gardai” or that it occurred through happenstance.
Mr Grehan also told the court he intends to object to how the authorisation for the tracking device was issued.
He said the 2009 Act was the first piece of legislation to regulate the use of surveillance in the State and the previous, unregulated system “casts a shadow over some of the practices in respect of the use of surveillance devices which the court has heard about in this case”.
He stated that if the defence is successful, the court should find that the authorisation was issued unlawfully and “therefore no reliance can be placed on it and no evidence gathered on foot of it should be admitted in
the trial”.
He will also say the use of the surveillance device was a breach of the accused’s “well established constitutional right to privacy”, adding it is a fundamental requirement of the Irish Constitution and European law that incursions into privacy rights must be “clearly expressed and sufficiently clear” so that individuals can understand the conditions in which the State might use covert surveillance on them.
Counsel said: “The law does not operate in a vacuum and neither can gardai, in particular when operating in an area that is as clearly and precisely regulated by law as the area of surveillance is since 2009.
“The end cannot justify the means in terms of simply ignoring the law and if we sanction such a process we are in effect abandoning the rule of law.”
He added that gardai who gained permission to plant the device on the Land Cruiser from a District Court judge provided the judge with a pre-prepared document.
Mr Grehan said the “dangers” of using pre-prepared documents had been highlighted previously by the courts.
He will also argue that there was an inadequate record kept of the conversation with the District Court judge and that there was a “lack of candour” on the part of gardai who, he said, did not give the judge all the information that would have been required for him to make an informed decision.
Mr Grehan will continue his submission today before Ms Justice Tara Burns, Judge Sarah Berkeley and Judge Grainne Malone.
Read next:
- Court hears that 'The Monk' Gerry Hutch told Dowdall 'cops are going around like headless chickens'
- Gerry Hutch trial hears using tracker on vehicle in north would be illegal
- Hutch trial hears he was observed meeting man later caught with AK-47s
- Kinahan cartel furious at 'launderer' for going against strict instructions
- Grandmother of David Byrne dies during Regency shooting trial
