Sinn Fein councillor’s life at ‘risk’ after he agreed to be a witness in Gerry Hutch murder trial

A former Sinn Fein councillor’s life is in ‘significant’ danger after he agreed to be a witness in Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch’s murder trial over a fatal shooting at a hotel in Dublin in 2016.

Former councillor Jonathon Dowdall, 44, told a Dublin court he is willing to testify in Hutch’s trial over the murder of David Byrne – as the politician was sentenced to four years in prison for facilitating the killing.

Jonathon Dowdall and his father, Patrick Dowdall, 64, admitted assisting a criminal gang to commit the murder of Mr Byrne in February 2016. Patrick Dowdall was jailed for two years for his role in the killing.

The two men sat side by side before the non-jury Special Criminal Court in Dublin on Monday.

Mr Byrne, 34, was shot dead by AK-wielding gunmen at Dublin’s Regency hotel during a boxing weigh-in in one of the early attacks of the Hutch-Kinahan gangland feud, which has claimed at least 18 lives.

Jonathan Dowdall said he is willing to testify and give evidence in the trial of Hutch, who is accused of Mr Byrne’s murder.

He will enter into the witness protection programme following his decision to co-operate with gardai.

Jonathon Dowdall was due to stand trial for the murder; however, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of facilitating the offence by booking a room at the hotel.

There was heightened security at the court on Monday, with armed officers outside the building and extra security both in and outside the courtroom.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt said Jonathan Dowdall’s life and the lives of his relatives have been ‘upended, (and become) more onerous and dangerous’ in all possible circumstances following his decision to give evidence.

Mr Dowdall has four children aged between 11 and 25, the court heard.

The judge said he accepts there is an ‘immediate and lasting’ effect of providing assistance to authorities in the murder trial and that it will also put Jonathan Dowdall and his extended family in ‘significant peril’, which will continue after he is released from prison.

The court previously heard that one of the more extreme consequences of becoming a State witness would include ‘never be returning to Ireland’, or returning in ‘clandestine circumstances’. 

But the judge today said this does not justify a wholly suspended sentence.

Referring to his conviction for abducting and torturing a man in 2015, the judge said Jonathan Dowdall is not a person of previous good character.

Handing a two-year sentence to Patrick Dowdall, the judge said he will be caught up in the aftermath of his son’s decision to turn state witness.

He also said Patrick Dowdall made no attempt to ‘conceal or disguise’ his actions and involvement in the crime.

The pair will not commence their custodial sentences for another two weeks and will remain under protective custody until then to allow them to get their affairs in order.

Mr Byrne’s mother and other family members were in court on Monday for the sentencing.

The hearing was told that Dowdall and his father had been involved in the booking of a hotel room at the Regency the day before the killing.

CCTV showed the room being used by Kevin ‘Flatcap’ Murray, believed to be linked to the IRA, who, the court heard, was revealed in footage to be one of the figures involved in the Regency attack.

Mr Murray died in 2017 after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease.

Defence counsel for Jonathon and Patrick Dowdell previously told the court that they did not know the hotel room would be used as part of an attack.

Michael O’Higgins SC told the court one garda theory was that the Dowdalls had been “used in this process” in order to book the room in the Regency hotel the day before the fatal attack.

The defence argued that Jonathan Dowdall had been “somewhat compromised” by the familiar relationship between his family and the Hutch family.

The court heard that Dowdall’s mother had been a neighbour of Gerry Hutch, and the families had interacted in relation to loans, making bookings, and boxing clubs.

Detective Sergeant Patrick O’Toole previously told the court that he believed Jonathan Dowdall was “sincere and genuine” in his co-operation with gardai, and that the offer to be a state witness is a “process that’s in train at the moment”.

Asked whether Dowdall had “indicated his willingness to give evidence” in court, Mr O’Toole said he had.

Hutch, 59, will stand trial on Tuesday for the murder of Mr Byrne, who was the younger brother of Liam Byrne – identified by police as the head of the Kinahan gang’s operations in Ireland. 

Liam is thought to have been at the hotel with Daniel Kinahan – assumed to be the target of the shooting – but the pair escaped. 

Paul Murphy, 60, of Cabra Road, and Jason Bonney, 50, of Drumnigh Wood in Portmarnock, are also due to go on trial.