It was the bombshell opening to a case that has been described as the "gangland trial of the century".
On the opening day of the Gerry Hutch murder trial, the Special Criminal Court heard that he claimed he was one of the hit team that killed Kinahan ally David Byrne in the Regency Hotel.
State prosecutor Sean Gillane SC told the first day of the mammoth trial that disgraced former Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall would say that Hutch confided in him about his role in the infamous hit.
Mr Gillane made his comments on Tuesday, shortly after Mr Hutch formally denied the charge of murder at the start of the trial.
Mr Hutch, 59, with an address the Paddocks in Clontarf, north Dublin, replied with a loud "not guilty" when he was asked how he was pleading to the charge that he murdered David Byrne.
The man known as the Monk made his protestation in the dock of the non-jury Special Criminal court in central Dublin on Thursday morning – a denial of guilt that saw him go on trial.
His trial, for allegedly murdering Mr Byrne at the Regency Airport Hotel in north central Dublin on Friday, February 5, 2016 is now ongoing – and is expected to last up to 12 weeks.
He is on trial with two other men - Paul Murphy, 59, of Cherry Avenue, Swords, Co Dublin and Jason Bonney, 50, of Drumnigh Wood, Portmarnock, Dublin 13.
Neither is charged with murder, however.
But they have both pleaded not guilty to participating in or contributing to the murder of Byrne by providing access to motor vehicles on February 5, 2016.
The men’s trial started on Tuesday morning – and tight garda security and major public interest.
See the first three episodes of our Shattered Lives podcast series on the trial below
In his opening statement, Mr Gillane said the court would hear evidence that Mr Hutch told former Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall that he was "one of the team" that murdered Byrne.
Mr Gillane told the court that the accused had contacted Jonathan Dowdall and arranged to meet him in a carpark days after the shooting to discuss a photograph of a man in a wig and another man wearing a flat cap, which had appeared in a Sunday newspaper.
The prosecution claims that Mr Hutch was described as being "very worked up and edgy" as both men discussed the photograph that had been published.
"Jonathan Dowdall said Mr Hutch said that they had carried out the murder and that he had been one of the team that shot Mr Byrne at the Regency," said Mr Gillane.
It is the prosecution case, Mr Gillane said, that "this deliberate killing" was carried out "without restraint" by a group of people, of whom Mr Hutch was one.
The Special Criminal Court was also told that Mr Hutch had asked Dowdall to arrange a meeting with provisional republicans due to the escalation of the Hutch/Kinahan feud. Dowdall drove Mr Hutch to meet the republicans on February 20.
The three-judge court is also to hear evidence, Mr Gillane said, that Dowdall and Mr Hutch drove north to a meeting in Strabane, Co Tyrone on March 7 and that their vehicle was the subject of surveillance.
Dowdall and Mr Hutch's conversation was recorded and matters discussed included the existence of the feud with the Kinahan group, the personnel and "efforts to make peace or agree a ceasefire", said Mr Gillane.
Mr Hutch was captured on the recording saying: "It's hard to get involved where the Kinahans are concerned, cause if it doesn't work, the messenger gets it".
Mr Hutch was also recorded as saying that he "was not going to show a weak hand", the court heard.
Mr Gillane said the Special Criminal Court will also hear that in the course of this conversation "explicit references" were made to "three yokes" and giving them "as a present" to the republicans in the north, which he said referred to the assault rifles used in the Regency Hotel attack.
As well as hearing allegations that Mr Hutch said he was involved in the murder of Mr Byrne, the trial also heard harrowing evidence from people who were caught up in the shooting.
Mel Christle, who is a senior barrister as well as a former boxer himself, told the court he was present at the hotel to oversee two weigh-in events.
He said there were up to 250 people present when the drama erupted.
He told the court fighter Gary Sweeney had just stood off the scales at around 2.25pm when he heard a commotion in the crowd.
He said: “I heard shots and shouting, some screaming. I think it was about eight shots. I can’t be exact but certainly more than three or four.”
Mr Christle also said he saw two men carrying handguns move past him – and one of them was in drag.
He said: “There was no doubt it was a man, even from his gait, the way he was running.”
Mr Christle watched as the two men ran past. The man in the wig was carrying a revolver close to his stomach. He was “fit, slim” and probably in his early 20s, the witness said.
The second man was stocky and “obviously unfit but moving at a good rate for such an unfit man,’ Mr Christle said.
There was mayhem, he said. Some people were diving to the floor, others were sort of retreating backwards away, out of the path of two individuals who had come into the room, each holding a gun”.
He told prosecution counsel Fiona Murphy SC that he saw moved into the hotel reception and a corpse with its face "blown off" – but did not know it was David Byrne.
He saw two other men treated for what appeared to be gunshot wounds. He described a scene of panic and said he noticed a "general weakness in people because it was clear they had never witnessed anything like this."
Outside Mr Christle saw two young men who were agitated, upset, tearful and “clearly shocked”.
He added: “They obviously knew the identity of the dead man and I asked them and they wouldn’t respond and they were very, very nervous and one of them had a large knife and he was trying to conceal it up his sleeve. You know, it was quite clear that people outside were on alert.”
Mr Christle immediately decided to cancel the two boxing events that had been planned for that weekend and after hailing a taxi, began ringing the officials.
On Wednesday a newspaper photographer, who was present at the Regency Hotel when David Byrne was shot, said he was in fear of his life as he witnessed the attack.
Colin O’Riordan said he tried to make himself as "unthreatening" as possible as gunmen dressed as members of the Emergency Response Unit walked by him into the hotel.
His evidence was also the first time that mob boss Daniel Kinahan was mentioned.
He said that journalist Robin Schiller told him he had seen Daniel Kinahan at the far side of the Regency Suite where the boxing weigh-in was taking place.
Mr O'Riordan told prosecution counsel Sean Gillane SC that he was working for Independent Newspapers in 2016 and was asked by the photo desk to cover the boxing weigh-in.
He said he met Mr Schiller on the front steps of the hotel and they went to the Regency Suite where the weigh-in was taking place.
"We sat down and surveyed who was in the room and what was going on," he said.
Mr O'Riordan started photographing the weigh-in using his iPhone and they stayed there for 15 minutes.
"Robin said he spotted Daniel Kinahan, he was at the far side of the room. I couldn't see him, I wouldn't have 100 per cent known what he looked like at that time," he said.
The pair then decided to leave the room and went outside – when the attack started.
"We were talking about what happened inside and the next thing we heard a bang. Robin said that it was a gunshot," said Mr O 'Riordan.
He said almost immediately two individuals dressed as gardai in "Emergency Response Unit paramilitary style wear" appeared on the steps of the hotel after having walked out of a silver van in the hotel grounds.
"They were carrying AK-47s and wearing balaclavas, all the paraphernalia of emergency gardai," he added.
Mr O' Riordan said he knew immediately the men were not gardai – because the Irish police force does not use such rifles.
Mr O'Riordan said he could hear gunshots coming from inside the hotel foyer.
He could see one of the people dressed as a member of the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) standing on a desk inside the foyer and that he had his gun pointed down on "the chap" behind the desk. The man on the desk then turned and jumped back into the foyer area, he said.
Moments later, Mr O'Riordan said one of the members dressed as the ERU exited the front door right in front of him.
"I stood back because I was in fear of my life. I tried to make myself as unthreatening as I could. I said to the guard 'I don't know where I should be'. They briskly walked by me with the weapons. They walked briskly to the silver van," said the witness.
Mr O'Riordan said he couldn't say exactly how many shots he had heard that day but "in or around 12".
The witness said that a man dressed as a woman and wearing a wig approached from the opposite direction. "It was too tall to be a woman, it was definitely a fella dressed as a woman with some sort of pistol in his hand," he said.
Mr O'Riordan said that as the man in the wig approached the van he heard him say: "He wasn't there, I couldn't find him". He also heard someone else say: "Get the fuck out of here". Both individuals had Dublin accents, he said. These two individuals also got into the van, which headed in the direction of the back of the hotel.”
On Thursday, the court heard the three assault rifles used by the gang were recovered in a Garda operation in Co Meath just over a month after the Regency shooting.
The Kalashnikovs were wrapped in a rug and white shirts in the boot of a car that Garda Special Branch officers stopped in Slane on March 9.
Inspector Padraig Boyce said he took part in the operation that recovered the firearms.
He said Shane Rowan from Forest Park, Killygordon, in County Donegal was driving a grey 09 Donegal registered Vauxhall Insignia car and the vehicle was stopped at the side of the road.
Rowan was detained and the vehicle was searched.
Three assault rifles modelled on original AK-47's and ammunition were found in the boot of the car, said Insp Boyce.
Rowan was arrested for membership of the IRA and possession of the assault rifles and ammunition, he said.
In July 2016, Rowan was jailed for seven and a half years for possession of assault rifles and ammunition. He was also sentenced to a concurrent sentence of four years in prison for IRA membership.
Also on Thursday, Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell, who is attached to the PSNI and was stationed in Strabane, said he was at Ballymun Garda Station in February 2016, when he was asked to identify an image of a man with a flat cap and carrying a pistol in his right hand at the Regency.
"I identified that person as Kevin Murray who was living in Strabane," he said, adding that he had last "spoken to him face to face" in April 2016.
Detective Garda Adrian Ahern, who said he is involved in investigations into serious crime in the border area, said he attended Letterkenny Garda Station to view two separate sets of images. He said he was able to identify Kevin Murray in one. He also identified Mr Murray in images entering the Regency Hotel on February 4, 2016, and leaving a room the next morning at 9.45am before going to the lobby with a green sports bag.
The trial continues on Monday before Ms Justice Tara Burns, presiding, sitting with Judge Sarah Berkeley and Judge Grainne Malone.
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