State witness Jonathan Dowdall has said he would sooner have taken his own life than use explosives.
Dowdall, who is into his sixth day being cross-examined by Brendan Grehan SC, defending for Hutch, made the claim when being challenged about a recording of him telling the accused about bomb making.
Hutch (59) is on trial for the murder of David Byrne in Dublin’s Regency Hotel on February 5, 2016 - a charge he denies.
READ MORE: Gerry Hutch trial LIVE as Jonathan Dowdall remains on the stand for a second week
Today an increasingly frustrated Dowdall also repeatedly questioned Mr Grehan SC as to how much longer he was going to be grilled, telling him: “I’m sick of bearing with you at this stage,” and “I’m six days here now.”
“How many more days do you want me to be there?” he also asked.
The former Sinn Fein councillor was for the first time today being played portions of the secretly recorded 10 hour tapes of him and Gerry Hutch.
Mr Grehan put it to Dowdall that he had never really been challenged on what he says in the tapes until now - something the witness acknowledged.
The court was played a lengthy exchange between Dowdall and Hutch where the witness discusses in detail the difference between plastic and powder explosives.
Mr Grehan put it to Dowdall that he’s discussing bomb making and appears to be an expert in what he’s saying - something the witness denied.
Dowdall said that nothing ever happened and that what he was discussing in the tapes with Hutch was “nonsense” and he would never use explosives.
He also went further, saying he would have “took me own life,” before using explosives - and adding that after this conversation his actual intention was to leave the country and he had “no intention of coming back.”
Throughout this exchange Dowdall insisted it was just the “situation” he was in and that his supposed knowledge of explosives that he’s discussing with Hutch, he had just learned from the TV - citing the programme “Border Patrol.”
The witness also became frustrated and asked Mr Grehan what relevance any of this had to do with the Regency Hotel.
Dowdall has already claimed that he was on tablets during this 10 hour conversation he had with Hutch.
But today Mr Grehan challenged the witness saying to him “you don’t sound like a man on tablets.”
“You sound very with it. Very precise,” Mr Grehan said.
But again the witness claimed he was on tablets at the time, and that a person wouldn’t necessarily know if someone was.
Dowdall was also played a portion of the tape where the accused man Gerry Hutch discusses the three “yokes” going up north and about it possibly coming back to them.
In the tape Dowdall responds by saying that they’ll be blamed about the Regency.
But today the witness said he couldn’t really remember the exchange and he doesn’t know the full context.
Mr Grehan put it to him “do you not think this is important,” to which the witness responded by saying he was six days being questioned now, and he no longer knew where this was going anymore.
At this point presiding Judge Ms Justice Tara Burns interrupted and told Mr Dowdall that what is being played before him now and what he is being questioned about is of relevance to the case.
She added that she will move Mr Grehan on where necessary.
Dowdall was also heavily challenged on his involvement in the moving of the AK-47 rifles that were used in the Regency - something he claims he had nothing to do with.
He says he “never got into that” with Patsy Hutch - a brother of the accused, who he alleges had made contact with IRA man Shane Rowan in relation to that.
But Mr Grehan put it to the witness that it was in fact him that was the first point of contact for Shane Rowan - who was subsequently caught with the rifles in Slane, Co Meath on March 9, 2016.
Dowdall confirmed that he was, but claimed that by this stage others had Rowan’s number - and he had specifically asked to stay out of it.
Earlier Dowdall was challenged on the fact that Rowan travelled from Donegal to Dublin to try and meet with him before February 4, 2016.
Dowdall says he wouldn’t meet with Rowan - and that his father met with him instead.
Mr Grehan asked what was in a plastic bag that was handed by Rowan to Dowdall’s father - to which the witness claimed “rubbish” was inside.
The senior barrister defending for Mr Hutch asked why would Rowan come from Donegal to Dublin to hand Mr Dowdall rubbish.
Also earlier in the day, Dowdall was challenged as to his meetings with Gerry Hutch, who he said met him at his home on the Navan Road on February 12, 2016.
Mr Grehan asked the witness if he thought Mr Hutch had any concerns about surveillance at that point if he had shown up at his house, where there was CCTV.
He then put it to Dowdall why would Mr Hutch meet him in a park if he felt the house, where he had met him before, was a safe place to meet.
Dowdall insisted that he didn’t decide where Mr Hutch met him, and said “I don’t know his reasons for the park.”
Dowdall alleges that Hutch met him in a park in Whitehall in Dublin days after the Regency and confessed to him about his involvement in the murder of David Byrne.
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