FORMER Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall will give evidence against Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch next week, the Irish Sun can reveal.
The 44-year-old could yet appear before the Special Criminal Court as early as Friday, when the three-judges will deliver their ruling on whether 10 hours of ‘bugged’ conversations between him and Hutch as they travelled to Northern Ireland are admissible as evidence.
The pair allegedly travelled to Belfast and Strabane to meet dissident Republicans on March 7, just over one month after Kinahan cartel thug David Byrne was shot dead at the Regency Hotel.
The journey was made after gardai had attached an audio device to Dowdall’s Toyota Land Cruiser vehicle.
Hutch had hoped the IRA would mediate in his gang’s feud with the Kinahan Organised Crime Group, his trial at the Special Criminal Court has heard.
The recordings were played to the court last week and legal teams have been arguing since Friday on whether they should be admissible as evidence.
Presiding Judge Tara Burns said today that they will deliver a ruling on the matter on Friday.
Once the issue surrounding the tapes has been resolved, the trial will move on to Jonathan Dowdall, who is currently serving a four-year sentence after pleading guilty to facilitating the murder of Byrne.
LESSER CHARGE
He had also been charged with murder but the DPP accepted a plea to the lesser charge after he agreed to turn State’s witness and testify against Hutch.
But lawyers for both sides are expected to hold legal arguments over the contents of the statement he made only days before he was due to stand trial with Hutch at the beginning of October and his status as a protective witness before he testifies at the trial.
Opening the trial, prosecutor Sean Gillane SC said Dowdall will tell the court that Hutch told him he murdered Byrne at the Regency Hotel in February 5, 2016.
The legal arguments are expected to see his appearance pushed back to next week.
Today Brendan Grehan SC, for Hutch, concluded his argument over why the recordings should be inadmissible.
SURVEILLANCE ACT
He has said that the authorisation used for the issuing of the audio device was unlawful and therefore all the information gathered from it, much of the recordings happened outside this jurisdiction in Northern Ireland and Hutch’s right to privacy was breached.
He said: “The whole point of the Criminal Justice Surveillance Act is to gather intelligence on behalf of the State but it must be within the law.
“You can legislate extra-territoriality but if you do so you must expressly state it within the Act.
“This was all carried out outside the borders of this State.
“The privacy argument isn’t one where Mr Hutch has some special right above and beyond anyone else.
“We also say that it is in breach of a constitutional right to admit the fruits of it because you’ve a recognised right to privacy under the Act, even when criminal matters are supposedly discussed.”
PLEA
Hutch, 59, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Kinahan cartel thug Byrne at the Regency Hotel on February 5, 2016.
His co-accused Paul Murphy, 61, of Cherry Avenue, Swords, Co Dublin and Jason Bonney, 51, of Drumnigh Wood, Portmarnock, Dublin 13 have pleaded not guilty to participating in or contributing to the facilitation of Byrne’s murder by providing motor vehicles for a criminal gang on February 5, 2016.
The trial continues before Ms Justice Tara Burns, Ms Justice Sarah Berkeley and Ms Justice Grainne Malone.
