Jonathan Dowdall willing to be a witness in Gerry Hutch murder trial, court hears

– 3 Oct 2022

FORMER SINN FÉIN councillor Jonathan Dowdall is willing to be a witness in the murder trial of Gerry Hutch and has given significant information “implicating other people” to gardaí, the Special Criminal Court has heard. 

The 45-year-old father of four is currently being sentenced after pleading guilty to facilitating the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in 2016.

Detective Sergeant Patrick O’Toole gave evidence today at the sentencing hearing of the events of the Regency Hotel shooting. 

The court heard details of how “a man in a flat cap and a man dressed as a woman” were captured on CCTV armed with handguns entering the North Dublin hotel. 

Detective Sergeant O’Toole also confirmed how three men dressed in garda-style tactical gear also entered the hotel and discharged rounds at David Byrne, who died as a result. 

The non-jury court heard details of how a room was booked in the Regency Hotel a day before the murder. The room was secured using a credit card belonging to a member of the Dowdall family. 

Jonathan’s father. Patrick Dowdall, who is also being sentenced for helping to facilitate the murder of David Byrne, is captured on CCTV paying for the room at reception.

• The day before the murder, ‘Flatcap’ Kevin Murray, one of the men captured on CCTV entering the Regency with a handgun on the day of the murder, heads into the hotel and goes into the room which had been booked by the Dowdalls. 

The court heard that the keycards for the hotel had been handed over to Murray at a separate location after Patrick Dowdall had checked in.

Kevin Murray died in 2017 after a long illness. 

Former SF councillor Jonathan Dowdall.

New statement

Jonathan Dowdall is currently under garda protection and is also currently being assessed to enter the witness protection programme.

Addressing the court, Senior Counsel Michael O’Higgins, acting on behalf of Dowdall, described how his client made a new statement to gardaí as of last week. 

O’Higgins said that Dowdall, 45, had indicated in November of last year that he was willing to speak to the gardaí about the Regency Hotel attack.

O’Higgins said that Dowdall is “now available as a witness” and that while the senior counsel was not privy to the statement his client gave last week, it is the case that this statement “implicates other persons”. 

Asking for mitigation, O’Higgins said Jonathan Dowdall ”has given material assistance not just in respect for offence he has been charged but significantly beyond that”.

He added that Dowdall’s life as he knows it is “effectively over”. 

“He will have to live in exile permanently. He will spend his life looking over his shoulder.” 

The sentence hearing for the two men has now been adjourned for two weeks.