THE SPECIAL CRIMINAL Court has viewed CCTV footage of what the State says is Gerard ‘The Monk’ Hutch making two separate journeys to Northern Ireland with Jonathan Dowdall just weeks after David Byrne was murdered at the Regency Hotel.
Sean Gillane SC, prosecuting, spent the afternoon taking Garda Michelle Purcell through a CCTV montage using footage of what the State says is the accused Gerard Hutch and Dowdall from 20 February and 7 March 2016. In his opening address to the three-judge court last week, Sean Gillane SC, prosecuting, said Gerard Hutch had asked Dowdall to arrange a meeting with provisional republicans to mediate or resolve the Hutch-Kinahan feud due to the threats against the accused’s family and friends.At 9.11am, the jeep can be seen pulling into a BP garage on the Newry Road in Co Armagh and the driver and passenger of the vehicle getting out.
Dowdall is engaged with someone at the check-out and pays for items whilst Gerard Hutch is at the coffee machine. Further CCTV footage from 7 March was shown to the court, where Jonathan Dowdall can be seen getting into his car outside his house on the Navan Road at 2pm. Gerard Hutch was also recorded as saying that he “was not going to show a weak hand and go looking for peace”, the court heard.It was also heard in the course of this conversation that “explicit references” were made to “three yokes” and giving them “as a present” to the republicans in the north, which Gillane said referred to the assault rifles used in the Regency Hotel attack.
Further CCTV footage showed the jeep at the Maldron Hotel in Belfast at 5.35pm that evening and a passenger getting out. The jeep is next seen at Dowdall’s home at 00.29, where he does a U-turn and reverses back into his driveway. Earlier, Gda Purcell showed CCTV footage of a man getting out of his Insignia car at Barnes View filling station on the Donegal Road in Donegal at 11.37am on 9 March.The three-judge court had heard that three AK-47 assault rifles wrapped in a rug and white shirts were found in the boot of Rowan’s car, a grey 09 Donegal registered Vauxhall Insignia, following “an intervention” by Gardai at 7.
Rowan can be seen parking at Clarehall Shopping Centre and going to Tesco at 3.38pm before returning to his car. His vehicle stays parked up in the same position until 4.45pm, when a Toyota Yaris comes into the car park.