LAWYERS FOR A man accused of participating in the murder of Kinahan Cartel member David Byrne at the Regency Hotel have told the Special Criminal Court it will be their case that a jeep the prosecution say was used in the attack was being driven by his father.
The trial has previously heard evidence that two detectives went to Bonney’s house the day after his BMW X5 was seized but the accused declined to make a statement. Hutch’s two co-accused – Paul Murphy , of Cherry Avenue, Swords, Co Dublin and Jason Bonney , of Drumnigh Wood, Portmarnock, Dublin 13 have pleaded not guilty to participating in or contributing to the murder of Byrne by providing access to motor vehicles on February 5, 2016.
Skedd began her direct evidence by providing phone location data for a journey taken by Jonathan Dowdall and his father Patrick Dowdall in a Land Cruiser jeep to Strabane in Co Tyrone on February 4, 2016. The witness agreed the PSNI had called Buncrana Garda Station in Co Donegal in the early afternoon to say that Dowdall’s jeep was seen acting suspiciously in Strabane.
Skedd said Patrick Dowdall’s phone used a cell site at the US Ambassador’s Residence in the Phoenix Park at 6.15pm that evening. When asked if he knew that his father’s phone had pinged off a mast at Richmond Builder’s, which is half way down Richmond Road, at 7.45pm that day, the witness said he didn’t look at the masts or anything like that. “It was where I was,” Dowdall said.Skedd spent the afternoon outlining in detail to the non-jury court the movements of a Toyota Avensis taxi driven by Murphy and a BMW X5 which the prosecution attributes to Bonney alongside their call records and cell sites.
She said the footage then showed six vehicles exiting Donnycarney Church, turning right onto Casino park at 2.02pm and into the vicinity of St Vincent’s GAA grounds, before the six man hit team ran down Charlemont Lane at 2.41pm and made their escape. She said the man wearing the flat cap goes straight towards the BMW and puts his bag into the back passenger side of the vehicle. He then gets into the front passenger seat and “they go off”, said Garda Purcell.
Detective Sergeant Brian Hanley previously testified that the fare receipts seized from Murphy’s taxi during the search did not corroborate with the account he gave regarding his movements.