Gerard Hutch trial: Ex-Sinn Féin councillor 'feared' the Hutches
- Published
A former Sinn Féin councillor told gardaí (Irish police) he was living in fear of the Hutches, the Kinahans and the Provisional IRA, a court has heard.
Det Sgt Patrick O'Toole made the remarks during the trial of Gerard Hutch, who is charged with the murder of David Byrne in February 2016.
Mr O'Toole was giving evidence about Jonathan Dowdall and his wife's first meeting with police.
He said they were both extremely nervous.
Dowdall and his wife, Patricia, had been speaking to police about the evidence he might give at Gerard Hutch's trial.
Mr Hutch has pleaded not guilty to murdering David Byrne at the Regency Airport Hotel during a boxing weigh-in.
Jonathan Dowdall is a former Sinn Féin councillor
Det Sgt O'Toole told the Special Criminal Court in Dublin that he understood Jonathan Dowdall's motives in talking to gardaí were to tell the truth because he believed he and his father had been used because of his republican contacts.
He told the three judge non-jury court Dowdall intended to say this in his defence.
Dowdall was due to stand trial for Mr Byrne's murder alongside Mr Hutch, but he pleaded guilty in advance to a lesser charge of facilitating the Hutch gang by making a hotel room available ahead of the murder.
He's expected to give evidence against Gerard Hutch.
The court was previously told that the murder of Mr Byrne, 33, was carried out as part of a feud between the Hutch and Kinahan crime gangs.
Five men, three disguised as armed police in tactical clothing and carrying AK-47 assault rifles, carried out the attack.
The court has heard Mr Hutch wanted to meet the Kinahans to arrange a ceasefire and have dissident republicans mediate.
Tapes
David Byrne was murdered during a boxing weigh-in event at Dublin's Regency Hotel in 2016
On Friday, the court ruled that secret recordings of conversations between Gerard Hutch and the former Sinn Féin councillor are admissible evidence.
He and Jonathan Dowdall were recorded on a journey to Northern Ireland.
Defence lawyers had argued that the recordings should not be used because they were made outside the Irish state.
They claimed that the surveillance was illegal because eight of the 10 tapes had been recorded in Northern Ireland.
The court acknowledged the surveillance was unlawful but said that the gardaí, who had gathered the evidence, had acted in good faith.
Dowdall is being assessed for the witness protection programme after agreeing to testify against Mr Hutch.
Mr Hutch's two co-accused, Paul Murphy, 61, of Cherry Avenue in Swords, County Dublin, and Jason Bonney, 50, of Drumnigh Wood in Portmarnock, County Dublin, pleaded not guilty to participating in or contributing to the murder of Mr Byrne by providing vehicles.