Gerard Hutch trial: Judge warns against recording proceedings

Gerard Hutch has pleaded not guilty to the murder of David Byrne

The presiding judge in the trial of Gerard Hutch has warned the public in an overflow court not to video record proceedings.

A prosecution barrister told the non-jury trial that there were images of the trial on social media.

Mr Hutch, from the Paddocks, Clontarf, denies murdering David Byrne, 33, at Dublin's Regency Airport Hotel in 2016.

The defence cross-examination of former Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan Dowdall continued on Wednesday.

Dowdall admitted at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin that his own testimony was the only evidence that he had given Mr Hutch the key to the hotel room used by David Byrne's murderers.

He said it was also correct that the only evidence that Mr Hutch had admitted shooting Mr Byrne dead was Dowdall's own word.

Dowdall was due to stand trial for murder with Mr Hutch, but pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of facilitating murder.

He has agreed to take part in the Irish witness protection programme in order to give evidence at the trial.

The court has heard that whether his application is accepted is not dependent on his performance as a witness in the Gerard Hutch trial.

Jonathan Dowdall is a former Sinn Féin councillor

Dowdall was jailed for four years in October after admitting to facilitating the killing by renting a room at the hotel.

Asked whether he had decided to give evidence against Mr Hutch to get a lesser sentence, Dowdall said "it was only natural if you're not involved".

He denied knowing the hotel room would be used by the murder gang.

'No dissidents or republicans involved'

In a previous hearing, the court heard secret garda (Irish police) recordings in which Dowdall was critical of Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald.

The recordings had Dowdall saying she was happy to get Hutch money but not to turn up at a Hutch funeral.

In the evidence presented on Wednesday, Dowdall said he had made a very unfair comment about Ms McDonald that was being used to drag down the party.

He said: "No dissident or republican had anything to do with the Regency. The Provisionals (IRA) are gone. They weren't involved in any attempt to stop the feud."

He told the court that when he was imprisoned for kidnapping and threatening to kill a man in a dispute over the sale of a motorcycle, he spent time on the republican wing of Portlaoise Prison.

'Bravado' and 'nonsense'

Dowdall has previously admitted telling lies during secret garda recordings of his conversations with Mr Hutch.

He has said he did so because he wanted to impress Mr Hutch and because he was on medication for depression at the time.

On Wednesday, he said he had tried to take his life around this time,

In the secret recordings, Dowdall also talks of planning to blow up a mobile phone owned by someone called Trevor Byrne in County Wexford.

He described those comments as "bravado", "disgusting" and "nonsense" saying he was under surveillance at the time.

He also distanced himself from his secretly-recorded comments that he had got his uncle's house shot at.

Brendan Grehan. senior counsel for Mr Hutch, put it to Dowdall that in his dealings with gardaí he was in effect offering to give evidence for the prosecution in this trial in return for having his murder charge dropped.

Dowdall replied: "I suppose that's correct, yes."

Visits to police murderer

Dowdall was also questioned about visiting convicted garda murderer Pearse McAuley in prison.

McAuley served 10-and-a-half years in prison for the manslaughter of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe during an armed raid on a post office van at Adare in County Limerick in 1996.

He was later jailed again for attacking his estranged wife with a knife over a four-hour period in front of their children.

Dowdall said he visited him three or four times while he was serving his second sentence.

Mr Grehan suggested to Dowdall he was lying because the prison records showed he visited McAuley 14 times.

Dowdall said what McAuley had done was "horrendous and horrible".

Asked to explain the discrepancy in his account of the number of prison visits, Dowdall said he could not remember everything.

The last of the prison visits was shortly before the Regency Airport Hotel shooting.

Later in the hearing, Dowdall said that in his conversations with McAuley he mentioned the concerns that Patsy Hutch, Gerard's brother, may have been about to be murdered as part of a feud between the Hutch and Kinahan crime gangs.

The court was previously told that the murder of Mr Byrne was carried out as part of the feud.

But he said McAuley advised him not to get involved.