Jonathan Dowdall described Gerard Hutch as “edgy and worked up” after the two men met in a Dublin park some days after the murder of David Byrne in the Regency Hotel, the Special Criminal Court heard.
Mr Dowdall had said the two had discussed a photograph published in the Sunday World days earlier of two men, one wearing a wig and dressed as a woman and one wearing a flat cap, alleged to be involved in the attack on the hotel on February 6th, 2016.
Seán Gillane SC, for the DPP, was setting out part of the prosecution case during his opening of the trial of Mr Hutch for the murder of Mr Byrne and of two men accused of facilitating the murder by providing vehicles.
Mr Dowdall had said Mr Hutch had said, while discussing the Sunday World photograph and other matters at a park in Whitehall some days after the murder, that “they” had carried out the murder and he was one of the team who shot David Byrne, said Mr Gillane.
Mr Dowdall had said Mr Hutch asked him to arrange a meeting with senior republicans in the context of the escalation of the Hutch-Kinahan feud, said counsel.
After a meeting with a senior republican on February 20th, 2016, Mr Hutch and Mr Dowdall had on March 7th, 2016, driven north together to meet senior republicans to discuss the escalation of the feud, said Mr Gillane.
The vehicle in which they were driving was under surveillance and their conversation was recorded during the journey, the court was told.
The topics discussed included the Regency hotel shooting and efforts to make peace between the Hutch-Kinahan groups and to reach a ceasefire, said Mr Gillane.
‘Three yokes’
Mr Hutch had said he was not going “to show a weak hand” and had said: “It’s hard to get involved where the Kinahans are concerned, ‘cos it doesn’t work, the messenger gets it’.”
There were also references to “three yokes” and to giving them as “a present” to the republicans and the prosecution asked the court to infer the “three yokes” were the weapons used in the attack on the Regency Hotel, he said.
Mr Hutch at one point said one particular republican contact “knows it was them at the Regency”, he said.
Another man was observed on March 9th, 2016, driving a car to Dublin where he met certain individuals, said Mr Gillane. That car was stopped and searched later that day outside Slane, Co Meath, three assault rifles were found and the driver was arrested.
Earlier, Mr Gillane said, on the day prior to the murder of Byrne, Jonathan Dowdall had been in Strabane with his father. That journey was made in an attempt to speak to republican contacts and get them to mediate to try and resolve the Kinahan-Hutch feud, said counsel.
