Former Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan Dowdall has been branded a “master manipulator” and a “liar” in the murder trial of Gerry “The Monk” Hutch.
On the second day giving evidence at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin, Dowdall was accused of telling “two big lies” in his evidence against Hutch.
Brendan Grehan, senior counsel for Hutch, said that Dowdall lied when he claimed his client collected a hotel key card the night before the Regency Hotel attack and that he lied about Hutch saying he and an alleged Dublin criminal shot David Byrne.
Hutch is on trial over the murder of Mr Byrne, who was shot dead at the Regency Hotel in February 2016, in one of the first deadly attacks of the Hutch-Kinahan gangland feud.
Hutch, from the Paddocks, Clontarf, has denied the charge of murder.
Mr Grehan accused Dowdall of waiting a long time to insert his client into his account of events that surrounded the Regency shooting.
Dowdall, who was to stand trial for murder, is serving a four-year prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to facilitating the murder of Mr Byrne.
He agreed to turn state witness and is expected to enter a witness protection programme.
Dowdall admitted facilitating the murder of Mr Byrne after he helped book a room at the hotel that was used by one of the gunmen.
Under cross-examination, Mr Grehan accused Dowdall of being a “master manipulator of situations”.
On Tuesday, Dowdall admitted he previously lied to Special Criminal Court when he claimed he did not know who filmed him waterboarding a man in his house in 2015.
Dowdall was convicted of falsely imprisoning the man who went to his home to buy a motorbike.
He admitted he knew it was a younger family member who made the recording, but told the court he was not prepared to say who it was.
Hutch, who was dressed in a dark blazer, white shirt and tan trousers, moved from his usual seat in the dock to see Dowdall being cross-examined by his barrister.
Mr Grehan said to Dowdall: “Let me be clear at the start, my position is you lied to this court and there are two big lies at heart of testimony, that Hutch collected the security key card from you and your dad and that he confessed to you a number of days later.
“Watching you giving your evidence it struck me you seem to see yourself as good Samaritan who people come to with a problem.”
Dowdall was also asked about his interview with broadcaster Joe Duffy in March 2016 after his home was raided by gardai.
During the interview he denied having any connections to criminality.
Dowdall told the court on Tuesday that his life was “upside down” at that time, that he was taking medication and that he “wasn’t thinking on that day” and that he would never have taken the call from the show.
Mr Grehan then put it to Dowdall: “So it was Joe Duffy’s fault?”
Dowdall replied: “I never said it was Joe Duffy’s fault.
“A lot was happening at that time.
“Then I went on Joe Duffy but I wasn’t myself when I went on.”
Mr Grehan referred to Dowdall’s conviction of falsely imprisoning the man, and said it was a “lie” to claim he had no involvement in organised crime or criminality.
Dowdall said that he “didn’t think” of the incident when he was interviewed by the broadcaster.
He told the court that he has “paid the price” of the incident, particularly his wife and family.
Dowdall went on to tell the court that he was led to believe the reason for the Hutch-Kinahan feud was that Patsy Hutch’s sons were being “wrongly blamed” for attempting to kill Daniel Kinahan.
He said that he later discovered that Gary and Patrick Hutch “did what they were accused of”.
Mr Grehan then accused Dowdall of having a “very mixed relationship with the truth”.
Dowdall claimed he was told “stuff I should not have been told” about the Regency attack.
Dowdall was also asked about his references to bomb making during his conversation with Hutch on March 7th, 2016, which was taped.
A recording device was planted in Dowdall’s jeep which recorded around 10 hours of conversation between the pair as they travelled to Northern Ireland.
He told the court that he was asked about timers because of his trade as an electrician but denied he was going to make a bomb.
He said any references to a detonator and a bomb “was nonsense” and that he was ashamed of talking about it.
Mr Grehan accused Dowdall of having a “very strange relationship with what is truth and lies”.
He put it to Dowdall that if something can not be proved in some way, then “you say something is just lies”.
However, Dowdall said he was not making timers for bombs and that he was “bluffing” when he said he would try and make one.
Dowdall also claimed that he travelled to Co Donegal with Hutch on February 12 to meet “IRA men” to fix a broken TV plug.
Dowdall was pictured holding a bag and going inside a property belonging to Shane Rowan, who was caught with the three assault rifles used in the Regency shooting.
Dowdall told the court he was carrying a bag of tools.
Mr Grehan said: “Are you serious when you say you travelled from Dublin with Gerry Hutch to Donegal to meet IRA men to fix a plug?”
Mr Dowdall replied it was “the truth”.
When further questioned about the broken plug, Dowdall claimed the plug was “tripping out”.
Meanwhile, Mr Grehan also put it to Dowdall that he knew enough about the Hutch-Kinahan feud to get his “IRA friends” involved.
Dowdall told the court that there has been threats and attempts on people’s lives and demands for money.
“I was asked if they (IRA) could go and broker an agreement between the groups,” Dowdall said.
Mr Grehan said: “Since when did the IRA get into the mediation business?”
Dowdall said that Patsy Hutch’s life and others were under threat and that he wanted to stop people being killed and to prevent the feud with the Kinahans from escalating.
Mr Grehan also accused Dowdall of lying when he claimed Hutch collected the hotel key card from his father, Patrick Dowdall, the night before the Regency attack.
He put it to Dowdall that his account had “evolved” and that it had become in his interest to incriminate Hutch.
“That’s nonsense because I wouldn’t incriminate anyone,” Dowdall said.
Dowdall was also asked about his conversation with Hutch in which he claims Hutch admitted shooting Mr Byrne days after the murder.
Dowdall said that Hutch never directly repeated the words again about shooting Mr Byrne.
However, Mr Grehan accused Dowdall of lying about the claims.
Earlier, the court heard Dowdall claim that Hutch was “lying” to him when he said the six people involved in the Regency Hotel shooting did not know each other.
Dowdall also said the Kinahans did not start the gangland feud which led to the deaths of 18 people.
In addition, he said he knew Hutch was involved in the murder of Mr Byrne at the Regency Hotel because “he told me”.
Dowdall was asked about the taped conversations between himself and Hutch.
Some of the clips were played to the court on Tuesday, and Dowdall was asked to explain the contents of the conversation.
He told the court that he knew Hutch was one of the six people involved in the Regency attack “because he told me” and that he knew his brother, Patsy Hutch, was also involved.
He said he was later told that Kevin “Flat Cap” Murray was one of the people pictured leaving the hotel after the attack.
In the taped conversations, Hutch is heard telling Dowdall that the six involved did not know each other.
Sean Gillane, senior counsel for the prosecution, asked Dowdall about that claim by Hutch.
“He lied to me, saying they didn’t know who each other was,” he said.
“I didn’t know who it was until the people were charged, when I seen (sic) book of evidence.
“It was all family members and his friends.
“I have no connection to most of them. He told me they didn’t know each other. But they do know each other.”
Dowdall also told the court that it was Patsy Hutch’s sons who started the feud with the Kinahans.
He told the court he had agreed to help resolve the feud, but later discovered that Patsy Hutch’s sons were responsible for the feud and that he “didn’t know that”.
He said he did not find out the “real story” until he went to Wheatfield Prison.
He said he thought innocent people were being killed.
The trial continues.
