Closing speeches to begin in Monk trial
■ Marcus still living high life - as we snap him driving a Range Rover near plush home
THE closing speeches of the Hutch trial are set to begin today after 12 weeks of high drama at the Special Criminal Court.
Gerry Hutch (59) has sat in the dock of the non-jury court since October charged with the murder of Kinahan cartel associate David Byrne (34) in Dublin’s Regency Hotel on February 5, 2016.
Yesterday the court heard that the prosecution is now in a position to close its case against Mr Hutch and co-accused men Jason Bonney and Paul Murphy today.
Murphy (61), of Cherry Avenue, Swords, Co Dublin, and 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 5, 2016.
And after being asked by Ms Justice Tara Burns if the State is in a position to give its closing speech in the case today, prosecuting counsel Sean Gillane indicated that it is.
Mr Gillane told the court that there now seems to be “light at the end of the tunnel, subject to no oncoming train.”
Prosecution
He further stated that Fiona Murphy SC, who is also a senior barrister for the prosecution, is going to be the one to make that closing speech.
In it the State will sum up its case against the three accused men — before the defence is then given its opportunity to give their closing speeches.
Central to the prosecution’s case against Gerry Hutch is a bugged 10-hour conversation he had with State witness Jonathan Dowdall — in which the pair discuss the movement of the “three yokes”, alleged to be the AK-47 rifles used in the Regency Hotel shooting.
The prosecution alleges that Hutch was “one of the team” involved in the Regency Hotel shooting on February 5, 2016.
It also alleges that Hutch met with Dowdall in a park at Whitehall in Dublin days after the shooting and confessed to him.
Mr Dowdall has told the court that an agitated Hutch told him that he and James ‘Mago’ Gately “shot that young lad David Byrne” in the foyer of the north Dublin hotel that day.
SHAMED socialite Marcus Sweeney is still living the high life — as he swans around in an expensive Range Rover near his plush gated house.
The Star tracked down the Celtic Tiger restaurateur just days after a High Court judge described him as “up to his oxters” in organised crime.
And our exclusive images show the former socialite out and about yesterday in the Co Meath village where he lives.
This reporter approached the large wooden front gate of his secluded home on the outskirts of Dunboyne yesterday.
The 45-year-old, who ran Il Pomo D’Oro restaurant on Dublin’s South William Street, did not answer the intercom system outside the gate at his home where CCTV cameras were visible at the front gate.
Shortly afterwards, The Star observed the former partner of tragic model Katy French leave his plush countryside home in a black Range Rover jeep to head to Dunboyne village and return a short time later.
Later in the day he left his home again in the Range Rover jeep and returned within 20 minutes.
Elite
Dressed in a long black woollen coat, Sweeney still has his posterboy looks with his blonde locks and tanned skin which he was famous for during his Celtic Tiger years on Dublin’s elite social scene.
Sweeney, who was one of the country’s most high-profile socialites during the Celtic Tiger, had a relationship with tragic Katy French, a model who died tragically from a cocaine overdose just days after her 24th birthday in December 2007.
He suffered a series of failures — and one of the failed ventures, his South William Street restaurant, was central to the explosive end of his relationship with French.
They split when he walked into his restaurant and found her draped across a table posing in lingerie for photographers.
Another failed restaurant venture for the former socialite was a Lemongrass franchise in Clontarf, which closed down owing money to suppliers.
Despite not being on the social scene for many years, Sweeney is still active on his Instagram social media page where he has posted a number of articles from his heyday during the Celtic Tiger.
In one pinned post of an article headline ‘I had to rebuild: Marcus Sweeney’, he wrote a caption that read: “Anyone remember… The Celtic Tiger….I’d say he’s angry with what they did to his heart…his love…our home…our IRELAND x”.
He also posted a number of images and