Ex-Sinn Fein cllr Jonathan Dowdall & family will be resettled abroad under new identities & can never return to Ireland
EX-Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall and his extended family have been in protective custody since last week after he agreed to tell all on the Regency attack, a court has heard.
The Special Criminal Court was told his relatives are likely to be resettled abroad under new identities and will never be able to return home.
Dad-of-four Dowdall, 44, has promised to make a statement implicating others in the violent gun attack at Dublin’s Regency Hotel which led to the murder of senior Kinahan cartel member David Byrne on February 5, 2016.
Dowdall and his father Patrick Dowdall, 65, both from the Navan Road, in Cabra, Dublin 7, last week pleaded guilty to facilitating Byrne’s murder by booking a room at the hotel on February 4, 2016.
Det Sgt Patrick O’Toole said the family were being assessed for the Garda Witness Security Program and in “all likelihood they would be resettled abroad under new identities and will never be able to return to Ireland again”.
Dowdall’s also volunteered to give prosecution evidence against Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch in his forthcoming trial for the murder of Byrne.
And the officer agreed with his barrister, Michael O’Higgins, that the decision to make a statement to gardai had placed a “very heavy burden” on him and his family.
Mr O’Higgins added: “He will spend the rest of his days looking over his shoulder. He won’t be able to have a conversation with a stranger ever again without wondering.”
Det Sgt O’Toole said Dowdall had known the Hutch family since he was 15 and his mum, a third-generation market trader, grew up next door to them and had been friends with The Monk’s wife.
The Dowdalls would occasionally borrow large sums of money from Gerry’s brother Patsy and the Dowdalls often booked holidays for the Hutch family on a credit card but these “smaller sums of money” were always paid back.
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And the court was told Dowdall flew to Spain with “devastated” Patsy after the murder of his son Gary in September 2015.
But Mr O’Higgins said Dowdall came under pressure after his successful electrical firms “disintegrated” following his arrest for the false imprisonment and threatening to kill another man in 2015.
And he borrowed large sums from Patsy to pay wages, the court heard.
Dowdall drove his father, Patrick, to the Regency Hotel on February 4, 2016, and a room booking was made on a credit card in the name of a family member.
Patrick’s mobile number was left with reception but when cops later rang the number he said that he “cancelled the room”.
CCTV FOOTAGE
CCTV showed Patrick arriving at the Regency Hotel and paying for the room in cash. He then went up to room 2104 and used a key card to enter.
He left a few minutes later and drove to a place in north county Dublin with his son where they gave the two key cards to a known member of the Hutch criminal organisation but a person “not before the courts this morning”.
Det Sgt O’Toole agreed that both Dowdalls were “not a member of a criminal organisation or ever benefitted from a criminal organisation”.
The next morning, a man in a flat cap, who was later identified as Kevin Murray, from Strabane, Co Tyrone, was seen on CCTV entering the hotel and leaving with a green hold-all bag at about 10.30am.
Later that afternoon, Murray, who is since deceased, and a man dressed as a woman were dropped off at the hotel by a silver Ford Transit and entered through a side door.
Both men brandished handguns and appeared to be looking for someone, the court heard.
REGENCY SHOOTING
Shots were then heard in a room where a boxing weigh-in was taking place for the following night’s Clash of the Clans boxing event, a joint event between Frank Warren’s Queensbury Promotions and MGM, an Irish company based in Spain.
Moments later the same van pulled up to the front of the hotel and three men dressed as gardai in full tactical gear and armed with assault rifles entered through the front door of the hotel.
Det Sgt O’Toole agreed with Sean Gillane SC, for the prosecution, that this “caused great confusion as many believed that this was the actual gardai”.
More gunshots were fired and this “caused great panic as people ran for the exit doors”.
As David Byrne ran through the lobby he was shot in the back by one of the “gardai”.
He crawled to the reception desk and a second “garda” then shot the Kinahan member a number of times.
He died of six gunshot wounds from a high velocity firearm and had wounds to his head, face, thigh and back, a post-mortem found.
Det Sgt O’Toole said from the inquiries of one of his colleagues they were able to determine that two rival Dublin gangs were connected with the murder.
He agreed with Mr Gillane that one faction was an “international criminal organisation who were involved in murder, money laundering and firearms offences and the other was a well-known Dublin criminal group known for family bonds and intergenerational relationships”.
KINAHAN-HUTCH FEUD
He also agreed that the shooting was a significant event in “what has become known as the Kinahan-Hutch feud”.
And Det Sgt O’Toole acknowledged that Kevin Murray had paramilitary connections and didn’t wear any disguise in the hotel but “appeared to advertise his presence” on the CCTV.
He was later arrested but his extradition was not granted as he neared the end of his life, suffering from terminal motor neurone disease.
The officer accepted the Dowdalls “had Republican connections” and the gang might have exploited these to make it appear that there was a paramilitary or dissident link to Byrne’s murder.
The court also heard that Dowdall travelled to Strabane on March 7, 2016, with another man and the conversations he had were recorded.
On March 9, another man, who has already been dealt with by the courts was stopped in a car in north county Dublin and three AK47s were seized.
SUSPENDED SENTENCE PLEAS
Mr O’Higgins pleaded for a suspended sentence claiming there were “exceptional circumstances” in this case and that Dowdall’s “life as he knew it was now over”.
His children are aged 11 to 25 and his lawyer said that, along with his wife, their lives would be greatly impacted for many years to come because of his decision to make a full statement in the case.
His dad’s counsel said Patrick had a history of alcohol abuse and depression and was totally naive to what he was getting himself involved in. Michael Bowman SC also asked for a suspended sentence.
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Both legal teams said the Dowdalls had no clue what the hotel room was to be used for and had no knowledge of the gun attack.
Judge Tony Hunt said he would sentence both men on October 17.
