The Special Criminal Court has heard a recording of a man the state claims is murder accused Gerard 'The Monk' Hutch tell a man they allege is ex-Sinn Fein Councillor Jonathan Dowdall that Daniel Kinahan looked "in a fuckin heap" from photographs he had seen in a newspaper after the Regency Hotel attack.
The trial of Mr Hutch has heard that the two men, in conversations captured by a garda bugging device as they allegedly travelled to the North to meet with republicans, also discussed many topics including politics and celebrities. The man the state claim is Dowdall talked about how Sinn Fein would be "stupid" not to go into coalition and that they "can't sit back and throw their toys out of the pram". Dowdall also allegedly says that Eoin O Broin is "very good", that "his bird is ur wan Lynn Boylan" and that "he was the one that made a stand".
The man alleged to be Mr Hutch on the recording was also heard saying he liked the singer Imelda May. "She's mad as a bleedin' brush," the man the state says is Dowdall had replied.
The three judges of the court also listened to a recording allegedly of Mr Hutch telling Dowdall that the "cops are going around like headless chickens" and that "loads of fuck ups have after been made" in the aftermath of the murder of Kinahan Cartel member David Byrne (33) during a boxing weigh-in at the hotel.
The man the state says is Hutch was heard telling Dowdall that "these three yokes we're throwin them up to them either way", in what the prosecution has said is a reference to giving the three assault rifles used in the Regency Hotel attack to republicans in the north.
"There's a present them three yokes" and that he wanted "to throw them up there to them as a present". The accused also said he had to "push him" to get "them outta the village," he allegedly added.
The trial has heard it was outlined in a warrant that gardai believed a Ford Transit van was used to transport the Regency assailants to and from the hotel, that this van was stored at a car park at Buckingham Village in Dublin's north inner city prior to the murder and that the keys for the Ford Transit van were left with a woman for collection.
The man believed to be Mr Hutch was also recorded as saying: "Twelve months time, there's two RUC men dead there and them things are ballistically traced". Dowdall allegedly replies: "They're gonna blame them on the Regency". Mr Hutch says that "any smart copper would be saying it's a joint yoke". The man understood to be Dowdall says there is "too much leading back up there".
The non-jury court also heard the man the state says is Mr Hutch allegedly tell Dowdall that Daniel Kinahan "looks in a fuckin heap" from the photographs he had seen in the newspaper. The man on the tape alleged as Dowdall tells Mr Hutch that he [Mr Hutch] is "used to the pressure from the cops through the years". Mr Hutch allegedly says: "I'd be like that if some c*** came running in with an AK-47" and that if Kinahan wasn't in "an awful way ya'd say he's totally disturbed".
The man claimed to be Dowdall said: "Either way, they're going to jail, Gerard" and that he saw this morning that the Spanish authorities were rushing their case through. The individual on the tapes claimed to be Mr Hutch says that "the English are all over them a long time" and "what you read in the papers they're not far off".
The court also heard the two men, claimed to be Dowdall and Hutch, discuss convicted IRA killer Pearse McAuley and Hutch is allegedly heard telling Dowdall that him and Pearse "go back a bit". The man understood to be Dowdall tells the man believed to be Mr Hutch that he [Mr Hutch] is "friends" with Pearse and says: "Pearse said all along if you ever needed" and "Pearse would ring them and all if you want Gerard".
In another clip, the court heard the man alleged to be Dowdall talking about the components for a bomb including a detonator. Dowdall can allegedly be heard saying: "you can get a det", "the electrical pulse that goes into that makes a chemical reaction and that's what sets it off" and "the det that goes into the plastic, so ya still need my mechanism". The man the state says is Mr Hutch says "just a ball of bleedin putty", "where you get that coil" and "what about the rubber stuff".
Dowdall allegedly says: "It would attack part of the car's surface, it would take the whole bottom of the car out of it".
Later in the conversation, the man the state believes is Dowdall says that the newspapers don't have a "fuckin clue about the Regency."
"I don't think the police know what is being portrayed in the paper but they're saying we know who the six people are".
The man understood to be Mr Hutch then says "they don't know" and that "sure the fuckin six people don't even know" and that "no one fuckin knows". Mr Hutch allegedly said that "the people that were there themselves don't fuckin know" and that it was "all speculation" looking at "the snaps" apart from "the man and woman". He added: "The cops are going around like headless chickens" and that "loads of fuck ups have after been made".
The court heard the man the state believes to be Mr Hutch say in the recording that he was talking to 'Fish' and that "Fish probably wouldn't give a fuck if he was caught with these". Dowdall allegedly said personally he wouldn't go through 'Fish'.
The man claimed as Mr Hutch says he would be "too hot" even though he hasn't been stopped and searched in years and that he expects to be pulled and searched when he walks out of his house.
He [man the state claims is Hutch on the tapes] allegedly said he had flown into Dublin Airport and there were two detectives there from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation. The gardai asked him to account for his movements and told him they had “boxes to tick here,” he said.
Dowdall also allegedly tells the man claimed as Hutch about "Patsy's van - the 131 Ford van" and how gardai forgot to take the key when they "raided" his "gaff" saying "this is how stupid they are". He also allegedly tells the accused that Patsy is "better off saying" that he is "always in and out of the village doing carpets".
The Special Criminal Court trial has already heard that a Ford key seen hanging on a rack in the home of Patrick Hutch Senior, the brother of murder accused Gerard Hutch, was not seized by gardai in error during a first search of the house. Gardai failed to find the key during a second search two days later.
The court also heard the men believed to be Mr Hutch and Dowdall speaking about a "peaceful process" when they were approaching Lisburn town centre. Mr Hutch allegedly said he wanted to "see what these are willing to do" and Dowdall replied, "but how can you trust them?"
The man the state says is Dowdall went on to say "I know you bleedin' trust me," and warned Mr Hutch about getting complacent or relaxed following a peace deal and added it could be "game over for your whole family."
Mr Hutch allegedly replied: "I know, ya have to be careful of these c****, their capabilities."
The man claimed by the state to be Dowdall said there's "too many of them" and that "them Kinahan's are a big fucking army." The man the state says is Hutch referred to the murder of his brother Eddie "Neddy" Hutch a month before, saying: "The c**** who done Neddy have to fucking go." He referred to them as "just fucking hitmen" and added that the "shooting has to stop" and that the IRA "would have to be at the meet".
Dowdall allegedly said, "they're c****, they'd give up their ma, they would." He said it "can't go on like this... ya can't live our lives like this."
The man understood to be Hutch then mentioned that "Clinchy", an actor in Love/Hate had been "put in custody" prompting a conversation about celebrities including singers Adele and Imelda May, who the man claimed as Hutch said he liked. "She's mad as a bleedin' brush," Dowdall allegedly.
Referring to 'Bomber Kavanagh', the man claimed to be Dowdall said that he was getting "lashed out of it" in the newspaper to which Mr Hutch says "see them all with the bleedin sunglasses" and called it "embarrassing". Dowdall allegedly says: "people that aren't gangsters"
The man the state says is Dowdall also says to the accused: "It's wrong looking at all the Union Jacks in Ireland Gerard, isn't it?". Mr Hutch says "yeah".
The pair on the recording are heard laughing at one point where the man believed to be Mr Hutch says: "We're in Lisburn, make sure we're not in Ashbourne".
The man the state claims is Hutch also said at one stage "the likes of these Kinahan c****".
The male believed to be Dowdall tells the other, believed to be Mr Hutch, that the republicans should have the "height of respect for what you're offering" and that they'd be very "fuckin stupid".
The men on tape are heard discussing politics and Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. Dowdall allegedly says that Sinn Fein "are nearly big enough" and talks about how Sinn Fein would be "stupid" not to go into coalition and that they "can't sit back and throw their toys out of the pram". The man believed to be Dowdall says that Sinn Fein politician Eoin O'Broin is "very good", that "his bird is ur wan Lynn Boylan" and that "he was the one that made a stand".
The man the state claims is Hutch said "you have to go with what's in the best interests of the country, not what's in the interest of your party". Dowdall allegedly says "it's easy for Sinn Fein to sit back like Labour and say that's wrong".
At the non-jury court today, the prosecution played the beginning of an audio recording of a conversation allegedly between Mr Hutch and Dowdall while they were allegedly travelling north to a meeting in Strabane in Co Tyrone around 2.23pm on March 7, 2016 in Dowdall's Toyota Land Cruiser jeep, that had been bugged by garda detectives.
Transcripts of the recordings, which are are being relied on by the prosecution, are being displayed on several screens in the courtroom and have been described as "part of the core" of State's case in the trial of Mr Hutch (59), last of The Paddocks, Clontarf, Dublin 3, who denies the murder of Kinahan Cartel member David Byrne (33) during a boxing weigh-in at the Regency Hotel on February 5, 2016.
This morning, Garda Michelle Purcell agreed with Sean Gillane SC, prosecuting, that 'GH' in the transcript referred to the accused Gerard Hutch and 'JD' referred to Jonathan Dowdall, subject to this being established in evidence.
Last week, the three judges ruled that they would listen to the ten hours of conversations between Mr Hutch 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.
Mr Hutch’s defence lawyer Brendan Grehan SC has submitted that their "core argument" would be that gardai were aware that Dowdall's jeep was outside the jurisdiction for eight of the ten hours of those recordings from March 7, 2016 and that the evidence harvested from that "illicit fruit" should be excluded from the trial.
The non-jury court will hear the ten hours of audio recording which begin at 2.20pm on Monday, March 7 2016 leading into the early hours of Tuesday, March 8. After this the court will hear full legal argument from counsel on both sides as part of a 'voir dire' - a 'trial within a trial' - before the three judges rule on the admissibility of its contents having regard to the extraterritoriality issue.
The Special Criminal Court has viewed CCTV footage of what the State says is Mr Hutch making two separate journeys to Northern Ireland with Dowdall on February 20 and March 7, 2016, just weeks after Mr Byrne was killed.
CCTV footage has been shown to the court of Mr Hutch allegedly getting into the front passenger seat of Dowdall's Land Cruiser at 2.23pm on March 7 at Kealy's pub of Cloghran on the Swords Road. Further CCTV footage showed the jeep at the Maldron Hotel in Belfast at 5.35pm that evening. Another clip showed the jeep returning to Kealy's car park at 00.15 in the early hours of the morning on March 8, where a man claimed to be Mr Hutch gets out of the jeep and into a BMW.
The State's case is that Mr Hutch had asked Jonathan Dowdall to arrange a meeting with his provisional republican contacts to mediate or resolve the Hutch-Kinahan feud due to the threats against the accused's family and friends.
Jonathan Dowdall (44) - a married father of four with an address at Navan Road, Cabra, Dublin 7 - was due to stand trial for Mr Byrne's murder alongside Gerard Hutch but pleaded guilty in advance of the trial to a lesser charge of facilitating the Hutch gang by making a hotel room available ahead of the murder.
Dowdall has been jailed by the Special Criminal Court for four years for facilitating the Hutch gang in the notorious murder of Kinahan Cartel member David Byrne.
The former Dublin councillor is currently being assessed for the Witness Protection Program after agreeing to testify against former co-accused Gerard Hutch, who is charged with Mr Byrne's murder.
Mr Byrne, from Crumlin, was shot dead at the hotel in Whitehall, Dublin 9 after five men, three disguised as armed gardaí in tactical clothing and carrying AK-47 assault rifles, stormed the building during the attack, which was hosting a boxing weigh-in at the time. The victim was shot by two of the tactical assailants and further rounds were delivered to his head and body.
Mr Byrne died after suffering catastrophic injuries from six gunshots fired from a high-velocity weapon to the head, face, stomach, hand and legs.
Mr Hutch's two co-accused - Paul Murphy (59), of Cherry Avenue, Swords, Co Dublin and Jason Bonney (50), of Drumnigh Wood, Portmarnock, Dublin 13 have pleaded not guilty to participating in or contributing to the murder of David Byrne by providing access to motor vehicles on February 5, 2016.
The trial continues tomorrow before Ms Justice Tara Burns sitting with Judge Sarah Berkeley and Judge Grainne Malone.
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