It’s another twist in complex case that has become mired in delays
WHEN the Regency Hotel murder trial was halted after the judges were handed notes written by the late senior investigator, it was the latest twist in a complex case that has now become mired in delays.
The non-jury Special Criminal Court had earlier been told the defence would probably be seeking a retrial because enquiries into “new material” that had come to light would take too long for a postponement to be practical.
However, yesterday that postponement happened when the prosecution handed up Det Supt Colm Fox’s notes and said it would now be “safer” for the court to wait until an investigation into his tragic death is completed.
Exactly how the case has reached this juncture is far from clear, with the latest developments all happening outside court and what is being said inside very short on specifics.
When the trial began on January 11 it was expected to last less than two weeks and just four days of evidence were actually heard before a prolonged five-day legal argument phase got under way.
The arguments centred on the admissibility of evidence in which Det Gda Fergal O’Flaherty and Det Gda Jonathan Brady said they had identified the accused Patrick Hutch as a gunman dressed as a woman in a press photograph taken at the scene of the Regency attack.
For the identification, Det Sgt Patrick O’Toole had brought them to a room at Ballymun garda station, manned by Gda Michael Ryan.
All four said Det Gdaí O’Flaherty and Brady named Mr Hutch separately while the defence claimed there was evidence they did so in each other’s presence, which could have compromised their identifications.
It was denied by the prosecution and the witnesses that there was any collusion between them to wrongly identify Mr Hutch.
On February 2, Mr Justice Tony Hunt ruled the evidence was admissible, saying the court was satisfied both Det Gda O’Flaherty and Det Gda Brady had separately identified the person in the photo as Mr Hutch, and there was “no basis of contamination by nomination”.
The trial was due to resume the following Monday, February 5, but the defence said they were looking for “specific things” from the prosecution and it was adjourned.
Two days later, on February 7, the court was told what was being sought was disclosure of emails between four gardaí involved in the case.
“This is all very mysterious and elliptical,” Judge Hunt remarked at the time.
Michael O’Higgins SC, defending, explained an issue had arisen in relation to garda statements, matters that were omitted and new statements that came together and “hit every single note on the scale”.
He had made a case in legal argument that the statements were a “blatant and obvious cog from one to the other”, which was not accepted by the prosecution.
Mr O’Higgins said he was looking for material in relation to “contact they may
have had with regard to those statements”.
Three days later, on Saturday, February 10, senior investigator in the case Det Supt Fox was found dead at Ballymun garda station. His official firearm was recovered at the scene, foul play was not suspected and it was treated as a personal tragedy.
The following Tuesday, February 13, Judge Hunt adjourned the case again after being told of Det Supt Fox’s death.
On February 19, Mr O’Higgins said new material had been provided which he needed more time to consider. The material had presented “unprecedented conundrums” for the prosecution said Sean Gillane SC, prosecuting.
This was when the court was told the defence would probably be seeking an “outright adjournment” and retrial.
When Det Insp Fox’s notes were presented to the court yesterday, Mr Gillane explained it was to provide a “context” to his request for an adjournment.
However, as the contents of the note were not disclosed in open court, only the judges, the prosecution and the defence know what that context is.
While Mr Gillane had previously said he did not want to speak in “code” and Mr O’Higgins suggested both sides were proceeding “tentatively”, to the casual observer the issues surrounding this trial must now appear to be shrouded in mystery.