Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch stands accused of being “one of the team that shot David Byrne” in the Regency Hotel, his trial has heard.
Mr Hutch, 59, appeared this morning before the non-jury, Special Criminal Court, charged with the gangland murder of the Kinahan cartel associate, 34, at Dublin’s Regency Hotel on February 5, 2016.
Dressed in a navy blazer and a light-blue shirt Hutch, with long grey hair and a clean-shaven face, sat silently as the case - set to be one of the longest murder trials in the history of the State - was finally opened today.
Read More : LIVE updates as The Monk in court and 'gangland court case of decade' begins
Asked to briefly stand up, Hutch was told that he was charged with the murder of Mr Byrne, and was then asked how he wished to plead.
Hutch, wearing headphones to assist his hearing, loudly replied: “Not guilty."
And later in opening the case, Prosecuting Counsel Sean Gillane SC outlined to the court an alleged conversation between former Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall and Gerry Hutch, in which Hutch is alleged to have told him he was part of the team that shot Mr Byrne.
Mr Gillane said it is alleged that Hutch “contacted Jonathan Dowdall and arranged to meet him” in a park in the Whitehall area of Dublin
The alleged meeting was arranged following the publication of a photo in the Sunday World newspaper of the two gunmen - one dressed as a woman and one wearing a flat cap - emerging from the Regency Hotel on February 5.
The State alleges that Dowdall drove to meet Hutch at the park and in the course of their discussion Mr Hutch was described as being “worked up” and “edgy” as they discussed the photo that had been published.
Mr Gillane went on to say that it is alleged that “in the course of that discussion he (Hutch) said they carried out a murder and that he had been one of the team that shot David Byrne in the Regency.”
He is further alleged to have asked Mr Dowdall to arrange a meeting with his republican contacts because of the escalation of the feud and threats to his friends and family.
Dowdall is alleged to have driven Mr Hutch to Northern Ireland on February 20 - and again met with Hutch in a car park near the airport and drove him to the North for a meeting in Strabane.
At this stage the vehicle they were travelling in was the subject of a “surveillance operation” the court heard.
Mr Gillane said that the court will hear that during the course of that journey and the return journey - conversations between Mr Dowdall and Mr Hutch were “captured and recorded” by investigating gardai.
“Many topics” were discussed, but in particular the events of the Regency Hotel and other “related matters” were brought up, Mr Gillane said - including the existence of a feud with the Kinahan group.
Recent personal history was allegedly discussed at length, as was a discussion about an effort to bring about a “ceasefire” and “mediation” in the ongoing feud.
Mr Hutch is allegedly captured saying he “wasn’t going to show a weak hand” and that he “can’t go looking for peace.”
He is also allegedly heard to say that it is “very hard to get involved where the Kinahans are concerned because it doesn’t work. The messenger gets it.”
Mr Gillane went on to say that the alleged conversation brought up “named Republican contacts” and the involvement of since deceased man Kevin Murray - alleged to be the ‘Flat Cap’ shooter involved in the Regency attack.
The discussion also featured “repeated” references to “the village” and everything that happened being “in the village.”
The prosecution will allege that the “village” is a reference to Buckingham Village in Dublin, where the vehicles alleged to have been involved in the Regency attack met prior.
During the course of the alleged conversation, there were also references to “the three yokes” - which the prosecution will allege was an “inescapable inference” to the three AK47 rifles used in the shooting.
Finishing his opening statement, Mr Gillane said the prosecution will allege that the Regency Hotel attack was "carried out by a group of people - of which Mr Hutch was one."
Appearing before Ms Justice Tara Burns, Judges Sarah Berkeley and Grainne Malone, Prosecuting Counsel Sean Gillane SC formally opened the case against Hutch - as well as co-accused men Paul Murphy, 59 and Jason Bonney, 50.
Murphy, of Cherry Avenue, Swords, Co Dublin, and Bonney, of Drumnigh Wood, Portmarnock, Dublin are charged with participating in or contributing to activity that could facilitate the commission of a serious offence — the murder of David Byrne — by a criminal organisation by providing access to individual motor vehicles to that criminal organisation or its members on February 5th, 2016.
Both men also were asked how they were pleading - and they responded by saying “not guilty.”
Also in attendance in court this morning was Sadie Byrne - the mother of the victim, and her daughter Melanie.
On Monday, Jonathan Dowdall, 44, with an address at Navan Road, Dublin, was sentenced by a differently constituted Special Criminal Court to four years after he pleaded guilty to a charge of facilitating the murder of Mr Byrne by making a room available at the Regency Hotel to a criminal gang on the night prior to the murder.
His father Patrick Dowdall, 65, was jailed for two years after admitting the same charge.
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