Court told Hutch and Dowdall seen with man caught with AK-47 rifles used in Regency attack

A surveillance garda saw Gerard ‘The Monk’ Hutch and former Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan Dowdall meeting the man who was later caught with three AK-47 assault rifles used in the murder of Kinahan Cartel member David Byrne at the Regency Hotel, the Special Criminal Court has heard.

The three-judge court was also told Gerard Hutch’s brother, Patrick Hutch Senior, was seen in the same car as convicted IRA member Shane Rowan a month after the Regency attack on March 9th, 2016.

Less than an hour later, Rowan was stopped driving north with the three assault rifles that had been used in the Regency Hotel shooting.

Earlier, Ms Justice Tara Burns, presiding at the non-jury court, ruled that the public should be excluded from the court when 27 National Surveillance Unit (NSU) officers - of whom six are retired - give evidence and that their names, which will be handed in writing into the court, can be withheld from the defence and from the public. The NSU members will testify under previously assigned initials and the media are prohibited from reporting on the appearances of the witnesses.

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Mr Hutch (59), last of The Paddocks, Clontarf, Dublin 3, denies the murder of Mr Byrne (33) during a boxing weigh-in at the Regency Hotel on February 5th, 2016. The Special Criminal Court has already viewed CCTV footage of what the State says is Gerard Hutch making two separate journeys to Northern Ireland with Jonathan Dowdall on February 20th and March 7th, 2016.

In his opening address to the three-judge court last week, Sean Gillane SC, prosecuting, said Gerard Hutch had asked Dowdall to arrange a meeting with republicans to mediate or resolve the Hutch-Kinahan feud due to the threats against the accused’s family and friends.

Dowdall had driven Gerard Hutch to meet the republicans on February 20th, 2016, said Mr Gillane.

An NSU member, identified in court as Member L, gave evidence that he was on duty in the Killygordon area of Donegal on February 20th, 2016 when he observed Shane Rowan exiting a house at Forest Park.

A man reversed a car into a parking space at 4.35pm that day and Dowdall and Gerard Hutch were passengers in the car, he said. Rowan came out of the house to greet them, he said.

Gerard Hutch left the vehicle and went to the passenger side of Dowdall’s Toyota Land Cruiser that was parked nearby.

At the same time, the witness said the driver of the car and Dowdall entered Forest Park and “beckoned” at Gerard Hutch.

Member L testified that he observed Dowdall, Gerard Hutch and the other man leave the house at Forest Park and walk in the direction of Dowdall’s Land Cruiser. Dowdall was holding a small black holdall bag with an orange trim which he placed in the boot of his car.

Gerard Hutch then got into the passenger side of the Land Cruiser and had a conversation with the other man.

At that stage, Rowan left Forest Park and walked in the direction of the Land Cruiser but stopped and instead entered the house. The other man left the area in a silver Audi.

Ten minutes later at 5.20pm, Rowan left Forest Park and got into a Volkswagen Passat and left the area. Photographs were shown to the court of Dowdall placing a holdall in the rear of his SUV with the Volkswagen parked up on the right. A photo was also shown of Gerard Hutch leaving Forest Park and walking towards the rear of Dowdall’s Land Cruiser whilst Dowdall puts the bag into his vehicle.

Last week, Inspector Padraig Boyce gave evidence that he participated in “an intervention” at Tuiterath, Balrath, Slane, Co Meath on March 9th, 2016 at 7.05pm.

Shane Rowan, he said, from Forest Park, Killygordan, in Co Donegal was stopped in a Vauxhall Insignia. The vehicle was searched and three assault rifles modelled on original AK-47s and ammunition were found in the boot of the car.

In July 2016, Rowan was jailed for seven and a half years for possession of assault rifles and ammunition. He was also sentenced to a concurrent sentence of four years in prison for IRA membership, backdated to March 9th, 2016.

Evidence has also been given that bullet cases found at the Regency Hotel murder scene were fired by the three assault rifles.

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.

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 5th, 2016.

It is expected that the NSU members will continue giving evidence before Ms Justice Burns, presiding, sitting with Judge Sarah Berkeley and Judge Grainne Malone on Tuesday.