Jonathan Dowdall: Ex-Sinn Féin councillor willing to testify in Hutch trial

Jonathan Dowdall is a former Sinn Féin councillor

A former Sinn Féin councillor is willing to testify in the upcoming trial of others in connection with the murder of a man in the Republic of Ireland in 2016, a court has been told.

David Byrne, 33, was shot dead at the Regency Airport Hotel in Dublin during a boxing weigh-in.

Former councillor Jonathan Dowdall and his father Patrick Dowdall both pleaded guilty to facilitating the murder.

Both men are due to be sentenced in two weeks.

The Dowdalls', both of Navan Road in Dublin, appeared before the Special Criminal Court in Dublin on Monday for a sentence hearing.

Last week, they pleaded guilty to facilitating Mr Byrne's murder by making a room at the hotel available for a criminal organisation or its members.

The murder was part of the Hutch-Kinahan gang feud that has claimed at least 18 lives.

Jonathan Dowdall, 44, had been due to go on trial on Monday along with 58-year-old Gerard Hutch, also known as "the monk", who is charged with the February 2016 murder.

Mr Hutch's case has since been adjourned until a later date.

Gerard Hutch will stand trial for murder following the Dowdalls' sentencing

During the sentencing hearing on Monday, Jonathan Dowdall's barrister indicated that Dowdall would give state evidence in Mr Hutch's trial.

Michael O'Higgins SC said while his client was the author of his own misfortune, he would spend the rest of his life living anonymously in exile permanently looking over his shoulder.

Pleading for a lenient sentence for the father of four, he said Jonathan Dowdall had given material significance to the authorities not just about what he is charged with but significantly beyond that.

A barrister for Dowdall's 65-year-old father argued that apart from his previous conviction he had not come to the authorities' attention.

He also said he suffered from depression while in prison.

Solicitors for both Dowdalls also argued neither man was a member of a criminal group and that they were not aware of the purpose the room they hired would be used for.

In 2017, Jonathan Dowdall was jailed for 12 years and his father for eight years, for falsely imprisoning a man in 2015 after waterboarding and threatening to kill him,

They both pleaded guilty.

The Court of Appeal later reduced Jonathan Dowdall's sentence to 10 years in jail with the final 25 months suspended.

Patrick Dowdall's sentence was reduced to seven years in prison, with the final three years suspended.