GERRY ‘The Monk’ Hutch has walked free from the Special Criminal Court.
The 60-year-old left the court house today after being found not guilty of murder and hailed a taxi.
Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
Hutch was today acquitted of the murder of David Byrne, 33, during a boxing weigh-in at the Regency Hotel on the Swords Road, Whitehall, Dublin 9 on February 5, 2016.
The trial, which was one of the longest running in Irish history at 52 days, came to an end today as Ms Justice Tara Burns delivered the verdict. Hutch did not give evidence during the trial.
Hutch declined to speak to reporters after walking out the front door of the major courthouse.
He was followed by reporters and photographers as he walked a short distance from the courthouse.
Hutch then hopped into a taxi that proceeded to drive away from the area.
Hutch’s two co-accused – Paul Murphy, 61, of Cherry Avenue, Swords, Co Dublin and Jason Bonney, 52, of Drumnigh Wood, Portmarnock, Dublin 13 were each found guilty of the charge of participating in or contributing to the murder of Byrne by providing access to motor vehicles on February 5, 2016.
In the case of Hutch, the non-jury court found it could not rely on the evidence of former Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall.
The court also found that audio recordings of a conversation between Dowdall and Hutch did not corroborate Dowdall’s claim that Hutch had confessed to being one of the hitmen at the Regency Hotel where David Byrne was shot dead.
Ms Justice Tara Burns at the three-judge court said that the evidence gave rise to the reasonable possibility that the Regency attack was planned by Gerard Hutch’s older brother Patsy Hutch and that Gerard Hutch stepped in in the aftermath due to the fact his own life was now at risk.
She said that the evidence did not give rise to the inevitable inference that Gerard Hutch was present at the Regency during the attack.
At most, she said it gave rise to the possibility that he “gave the go-ahead” but the case against Hutch, she said, is not one of common design.
Even if it were one of common design, the judge said that there would be a “question mark over that also”.
Hutch last of The Paddocks, Clontarf, Dublin 3, had pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Sadie Byrne and James ‘Jaws’ Byrne, the parents of the late David Byrne, were in court to hear the court’s not guilty verdict.
They did not comment outside the court after the verdict.
It’s understood that Hutch intends to return to Spain after being acquitted today.
He is a tax-paying resident in the country and owns property there.
Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
