State drops Regency case after death of detective
THE State yesterday dropped its case against Patrick Hutch over the murder of Kinahan lieutenant David Byrne in the wake of the death of one of the lead investigators.
Prosecutors yesterday asked for a ‘nolle prosequi’ to be entered on all charges, bringing to an end the high-profile but long-stalled gangland trial into the shooting at the Regency Hotel in north Dublin. It is very unlikely the State will re-enter charges, sources told the Irish Daily Mail.
Seán Gillane SC, for the State, said they were unable to proceed with the case in the wake of the death of Garda Detective Superintendent Colm Fox, who led the investigation into the shooting.
Det Supt Fox was found dead in Ballymun Garda Station in north Dublin on February 10 last year with his official firearm nearby. The case had been adjourned on several occasions since, as a separate inquiry into his death took place.
Patrick Hutch, 26, of Champions Avenue, Dublin 1, had denied the murder of David Byrne, 32, at the Regency Hotel on February 5, 2015. He also denied possession of weapons on the day.
Three notes written by the late Det Supt Fox were handed into the Special Criminal Court in February last year, after his death, by Mr Gillane, prosecuting.
The trial had stalled at the time over the disclosure by the prosecution of emails between four gardaí.
The court was subsequently told that a report into the death of Det Supt Fox was being prepared. This report concerned the analysis of electronic data – a mobile phone, two USB devices and a laptop computer.
It was the State’s case that Mr Hutch was the man dressed as a woman and that, although he did not shoot Mr Byrne, he was part of a ‘shared intention’ to commit the offence. During the trial, the defence had objected to evidence that two detectives ‘immediately recognised’ Mr Hutch as a man dressed as a woman and holding a gun in a photo taken outside the hotel.
Both detectives told the court that they made the identification separately. But the defence argued the identification process was ‘sullied and tainted’.
The court heard approximately 500 gardaí viewed a photo of a man dressed as a woman holding a gun outside the hotel, with only two detectives identifying him as Patrick Hutch. However, the court ruled that the key prosecution evidence identifying Mr Hutch was admissible in the trial.
Mr Gillane, however, said yesterday that the State was no longer in a position to lead evidence on a number of matters, as a result of the death of Det Supt Fox. Judge Tony Hunt, presiding in the non-jury court, said Mr Hutch could be ‘discharged’ in light of the State’s application.
Counsel for Mr Hutch, Michael O’Higgins SC, said his client had pleaded not guilty and that the case was being ‘keenly contested’, which remained his client’s position. He ‘noted’ Mr Gillane’s observation that death of Det Supt Fox ‘had brought about this situation’, but had nothing further to add.
Members of the Byrne family stood up and called the situation ‘disgraceful’ and a ‘farce’. They said there was ‘no justice in Ireland’ and claimed gardaí could not ‘solve this case but could solve all the others’.
They told members of the media sitting in front of them that ‘you can put that in the paper’. One Byrne family member said to the court: ‘You’re afraid of the Hutches.’
Last night, the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission announced that it will investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of Det Supt Fox. It is understood that GSOC will look into whether issues in the case contributed to his death.