Hutch defence says evidence is ‘f lawed’
THE prosecution case against Gerard ‘The Monk’ Hutch stands or falls on whether the Special Criminal Court can believe the evidence of the ‘proven and admitted liar and perjurer’ Jonathan Dowdall, a barrister has told the three-judge, nonjury court.
Brendan Grehan SC, for Mr Hutch, gave his closing speech yesterday afternoon, telling the court that Dowdall is a ‘master manipulator’ who decided he would give evidence against Gerard Hutch to get his own charge of murdering David Byrne dropped.
Counsel said the only evidence against Mr Hutch, besides Dowdall’s ‘flawed’ testimony, is an eight-hour audio recording of conversations between Mr Hutch and Dowdall in which the prosecution alleges the accused made tacit admissions about his role in the shooting at the Regency Hotel in 2016.
Mr Grehan added: ‘I challenge anyone to find any unambiguous admission to involvement in the Regency anywhere in the transcript.’
He said there were lots of references in those recordings that contradicted the prosecution case, and that while there were numerous references where a court could conclude that the ‘Hutch gang’ was involved in the Regency attack, ‘the Hutch gang cannot be equated with Gerard Hutch’.
Counsel conceded that there were ‘arguably things said and discussed’ in the recordings that ‘could suggest serious criminality on the part of Gerard Hutch.’ But he reminded the court that his client is not charged with conspiracy to commit crimes and that the prosecution has ‘nailed its colours to the mast’ by charging Mr Hutch with murder.
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 5, 2016.
Mr Hutch’s two co-accused – Paul Murphy, 61, of Cherry Avenue, Swords, Co. Dublin, and Jason Bonney, 52, of Drumnigh Wood, Portmarnock, Dublin 13 – have pleaded not guilty to participating in or contributing to the murder of Mr Byrne by providing access to motor vehicles on February 5, 2016. The trial continues.