Opening of Hutch trial sees new accusations added to a well-worn tale

Most of the story relayed by prosecuting counsel Sean Gillane on Tuesday morning in Court 11 has been recounted many times before. Books, documentaries, newspaper articles and court hearings, both in Ireland and abroad, have forensically detailed the attack in the Regency Hotel on February 5th, 2016, during the Clash of the Clans boxing weigh-in.

Gillane ran through the now familiar account briskly. A van pulled up to the hotel and five gunmen got out, including three dressed as Garda tactical officers and carrying assault rifles.

Chaos ensued as they opened fire inside. One the attendees, David Byrne (33), was shot dead by the ersatz gardaí and two other men were injured.

But Gillane didn’t stop there; this version of the tale had new some details. Some days after the murder, Gerry Hutch met Jonathan Dowdall in a park in Whitehall where he allegedly said “they” had carried out murder. According to counsel, Dowdall said Hutch told him he was one of the team who shot Byrne.*

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On March 7th, both men travelled north in a car which had been bugged by gardaí to meet senior republicans to discuss the escalation of the feud, counsel said.

The two men discussed various topics, including efforts to make peace and reach a ceasefire. Hutch told Dowdall he wasn’t going to “show a weak hand” and commented the use of the three assault rifles, or “the three yokes” as he called them, had made a big statement.

All of this was part of a “violent murderous feud”, counsel said, “sometimes referred to as the Kinahan-Hutch feud.”

The opening address turned the trial from a simple repeat of a well-worn tale into something much more. The State is alleging not that Gerry Hutch organised the attack from a distance but that he was, according to Dowdall, actually one of the gunmen.

Summing up, Gillane did not mince his words. Militaristic, macabre, performative and targeted were some of the terms he used to describe the attack. “It took place in the middle of the city in the middle of the day, in front of hundreds of people.”

Of course, alleging something and proving it are too very different things. The prosecution is to call a large number of witnesses over the next few months and the trial is expected to involve extensive legal argument about admissibility.

Gerry Hutch (59) sat expressionless in the dock as he listened to proceedings, his only words to the court an emphatic “Not guilty” when the charge of murder was put to him.

The accused, who has been in custody for a year, looks markedly different from previous photographs of him. His hair is shoulder length and mostly grey. He wore a smart suit but no tie, a contrast to his two more casually dressed co-accused who are alleged to have sourced the getaway cars.

Hutch is hard of hearing and wears a pair of headphones, connected to a hearing aid, to follow proceedings.

The trial is taking place in the Special Criminal Court, meaning there is no jury. Instead the matter will be decided by three judges, all women, with Ms Justice Tara Burns presiding.

No jury meant there was no need for the standard warnings from barristers about reasonable doubt and not discussing the case outside court. This allowed evidence to proceed at a rapid pace.

Veteran boxing official Mel Christle, a senior counsel and former pro-fighter himself, said he was in the Regency to make sure the event complied with boxing regulations. He gave evidence of the “mayhem” which ensued when the gunmen opened fire.

He described witnessing one boxer fleeing “in his Donald Duck underpants” and seeing a parent trying to comfort a terrified young child. The gunshots sounded like “small bombs” he said. “It was all done in a minute or two.”

Afterwards everyone was extremely nervous and on alert outside. “One of them had a large knife and was trying to conceal it up his sleeve.”

Christle said he saw two injured men and the corpse of another. “His face had been blown off,” he told the court.

“Thanks,” remarked a member of the Byrne family sitting in the back of the court to no one in particular.

*In an earlier version of this article, we incorrectly reported that Counsel for the DPP stated in his opening speech that Jonathan Dowdall had said that Mr Hutch had told him he “was one of the gunmen dressed as a Garda and the one who shot Byrne”. In fact, as reported in other articles, Counsel referred to Mr Dowdall saying that Mr Hutch had told him “he had been one of the team that shot David Byrne at the Regency”.