Gerry Hutch “laughed” in the face of gardai during questioning after he was arrested and taken from his prison cell this week.
It’s understood The Monk repeatedly burst into peels of laughter when they put a question to him. The 58-year-old was quizzed for a number of hours at a Dublin Garda station about his suspected involvement in organised crime.
Hutch was arrested at Wheatfield prison on Wednesday and later returned to the West Dublin jail. A source said: “Every time a question was put to him, Gerry Hutch would pause, and then just burst out laughing. He shrugged off his arrest.”
The Monk is due to stand trial tomorrow at the Special Criminal Court for the murder of Daniel Kinahan associate David Byrne at the Regency Airport Hotel in Dublin in February 2016. A massive security operation will swing into action with the complex on Dublin’s Parkgate Street sealed off and sniffer dogs brought in to search for explosives.
The trial before the non-jury court over the killing of the Kinahan cartel lieutenant is one of the most high profile in years. It will see the Garda Armed Response Unit drafted in to provide extra security.
It is understood that armed officers will man entry and exit points of the building during the trial of the accused who is classified as one of the State’s highest security prisoners. Members of Byrne’s family and close relatives of Hutch are expected to attend the hearing.
The Garda Public Order unit will also be on standby to provide additional security backup if required during what is set to be a marathon court case. Legal sources have revealed that the trial could last up to three months but depending on the amount of witnesses called it could go on into the new year.
The source said: “This is a highly-complex case and is unique in some ways in that there is so much about it that is already in the public domain. “But it may throw a few surprises but the only certainty is it will go on for many weeks.”
Sources have also said that the gardai and the Department of Justice are taking no chances regarding security because of the bitterness between the two factions. During the week the Irish Mirror revealed that The Monk was arrested in jail on suspicion of directing a crime gang – an offence that carries up to life in prison.
It is understood it is connected to a long-running probe into allegations that criminals were passed intelligence by a retired Garda. The trial will take place in the shadow of a security operation which took place after former Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall, 44, and his father Patrick, 65 pleaded guilty to facilitating Byrne’s alleged murder.
It is believed they rented a room at the North Dublin hotel for now deceased former IRA gunman who took part in the killing. It is understood three men with connections to the Hutch gang called to the Dowdall home looking for the pair. Armed gardai are believed to have attended the scene last Thursday but no arrests were made.
The Dowdall father and son were also due to go on trial tomorrow over the fatal shooting. But last April they were charged with facilitating the gang involved in the killing by making a room available for them at the hotel.
The change of charge to the lesser offence of facilitating came around the time that Hutch was extradited from Spain. Then in a dramatic development at the Special Criminal Court last Wednesday both Dowdall entered guilty pleas to the charge of facilitating the alleged murder of Byrne.
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