HUTCH TO FACE HIS JUDGMENT BIRTHDAY
Judge sets verdict in Regency trial days after accused’s 60th
GERRY “The Monk” Hutch is to learn his fate just days after he turns 60 – when the verdict in the Regency murder trial is read out.
After 52 days over 13 weeks, hours of CCTV evidence, 10 hours of tapes, witnesses, maps, and the cross-examination of State witness Jonathan Dowdall, the so-called “Trial of the Century” drew to an end yesterday.
It comes after the Special Criminal Court heard dramatic closing arguments in which the prosecution alleged “beyond all reasonable doubt” Hutch was “one of the two” gunmen who shot David Byrne in the foyer of the hotel on February 5, 2016.
And defence barrister Brendan Grehan SC claimed there was no evidence presented from either the 10-hour audio or Jonathan Dowdall that proved his client’s guilt.
The trial wrapped up with long closing speeches from two senior defence barristers – John Fitzgerald SC acting for accused man Jason Bonney and Bernard Condon SC acting for accused man Paul Murphy.
Afterwards Ms Justice Tara Burns and Judges Sarah Berkeley and Grainne Malone briefly retired to consider a date to deliver a verdict.
They returned with presiding Judge Ms Burns stating that the court would return on April 17, on which she said it would be in a position to deliver a verdict in respect of all three men.
However she stated in the “unlikely” event they had a verdict earlier than that, the court would be notified.
Hutch, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Kinahan cartel associate Byrne, was dressed in a navy blazer and sat quietly in the dock for the 52nd and final day of the trial.
If the verdict does rule in Hutch’s favour then he is likely to be celebrating it just five days after his 60th birthday on April 12.
Bonney and Murphy were remanded on bail while Hutch remains on remand at Dublin’s Wheatfield Prison.
Murphy, 61, of Cherry Avenue, Swords and Bonney, 52, of Drumnigh Wood, Portmarnock, deny participating in or contributing to activity that could facilitate the commission of a serious offence by providing access to motor vehicles on February 5, 2016.
In essence the pair are accused of using their cars to help the hit team escape from nearby St Vincent’s GAA Club minutes after the shooting.
However, in both of their closing speeches yesterday, Bonney and Murphy’s barristers submitted no evidence proves beyond all reasonable doubt they were involved.
Bonney is alleged to have driven his BMW X5 jeep to Buckingham Village, where the gang met up, before travelling to St Vincent’s GAA car park and picking up a member of the hit team.
In his case the prosecution claimed the since-deceased “Flat Cap’” gunman Kevin Murray got into his car. In his closing arguments Mr Fitzgerald argued the CCTV and
phone evidence in fact proves his client’s account of events in that he went to Newbrook Avenue, where work was being done on a house, and that he gave the car to his father Willie Bonney, who used it.
His client, he said, had been afraid to tell gardai earlier he believed his father Willie had driven the BMW X5 south of Newbrook Avenue and was involved in the Regency incident, and not him.
Following Mr Fitzgerald’s speech, Murphy’s barrister Bernard Condon SC spoke on his client’s behalf.
Murphy was accused of using his silver Avensis taxi to meet with the rest of the six vehicles in Buckingham
Village, before travelling to the St Vincent’s GAA Club and picking up one of the six hitmen who was involved in the Regency Hotel attack.
However, in his closing speech Mr Condon said the prosecution had made various “assertions” and stated none of the CCTV proves beyond a reasonable doubt Murphy met with the gang in Buckingham Village or went to the St Vincent’s GAA car park. Mr Condon said “assertions are not evidence” and argued that in her closing speech, Ms Murphy for the prosecution painted with “broad brush assertions” to try and prove the guilt of his client. On the assertion
that Buckingham Village, where the van alleged to have been used in the Regency and the other vehicles are seen leaving, was the “centre of everything”, Mr Condon argued if this had even been proven.
He said the claim Murphy’s car was in the area along with any of this was like putting “two and two together and you get 600”.
He added: “One has to be careful that one has sufficient proof on which you can validly draw the sorts of inferences being made”.
And he said “at the height of it” his client was, by his own admission, attempting to meet with Eddie Hutch and instead ended up talking to Patsy.
However, later he asserted when a senior garda gave evidence about the existence of the Hutch Crime Gang neither Eddie nor Patsy Hutch were named as being members. Mr Condon also argued the Prosecution’s argument that Kevin Murray turned up at Buckingham Village at the same time Mr Murphy was there has not been proven.
He says no evidence was provided of any interaction between the two men, let alone whether Murphy overheard a conversation featuring him.
And he said when it comes to the footage at the Vincent’s GAA car park, there is nothing on the footage that reveals the identity of his client or the taxi. He added: “It’s just not there.”
He told the court “a deep dive into the evidence does not support” Murphy being guilty of the offence he was charged with.
“The proper verdict in Murphy’s case is not guilty,” he concluded.
One has to be careful one has sufficient proof... BERNARD CONDON SC COURT YESTERDAY