Former Sinn Féin councillor and convicted torturer Jonathan Dowdall, who was jailed for facilitating the murder of Kinahan Cartel member David Byrne, was "duped" and put in the "firing line" for the Regency Hotel attack, his lawyers have told the Court of Appeal.
Appealing the severity of his four-year sentence for facilitating the Regency attack, Michael O'Higgins SC, for Dowdall, told the three-judge court that while the State may say the hotel room was part of the "launching pad" for the murder of Mr Byrne, he would submit it was the "launching pad for a contrived event plan of disinformation, which was put together in a way where my client was left front and centre".
During the investigation, gardaí established the person using the room in the Regency Hotel was Kevin Murray, who had known paramilitary connections with the IRA.
Murray was very visible over the course of the day on CCTV footage and walked around the hotel freely, while during the attack he was seen on CCTV footage with a handgun held aloft.
During Dowdall's sentence hearing, Mr O'Higgins submitted that Murray was there to attract attention on the basis that investigating gardai would be misdirected in a paramilitary direction.
Range of options
Court of Appeal president Mr Justice George Birmingham said that when he first read the appellant's submissions, his first reaction was that Dowdall had done "extraordinarily well" and asked should he as a judge be drawing attention "to the range of options open".
The judge pointed out that there were "elements of unreality" about some of the arguments advanced in the submissions. "This is a person who pleaded guilty to an offence and someone who came before the court having been convicted of a very serious offence in the past and had served a substantial sentence, could he have had any expectation of doing better than he did?" asked the judge.
Mr Justice Birmingham went on to remark that a major issue was that the decisions taken by the appellant were going to have an effect not only on himself but also his family and that the sentencing court had been very conscious of that by making "unusual discounts and additional discounts".
Other grounds of appeal included that Dowdall wasn't "a time waster or a tyre kicker", was subjected to up to 10 days of cross-examination by counsel during the murder trial of Gerard 'the Monk' Hutch and to his credit "went through that process".
"A person who wants to cross that Rubicon should be aware that court's recognise the huge and significant life changes that flow from that," he added.
Mr O'Higgins argued that the Special Criminal Court had weighed the consequences of how Dowdall's life was going to change on becoming State's witness "with a blindfold", that the sentencing court didn't hear the specifics and did not know what the future held for his client.
Guilty plea
Counsel also noted that Dowdall should have been entitled to a 30 per cent discount for his guilty plea instead of a 25 per cent one and that a headline sentence of six years was appropriate rather than an eight year one.
"The headline sentence was too high, the discount for his plea [too low] and insufficient weight was given to his psychological and medical reports, with part reference to upending and the change to his life," submitted Mr O'Higgins.
The lawyer also pointed out that "it shouldn't be lost in sight that there had been a previous history of booking hotel rooms [by his client for the Hutches] for credit purposes".
Mr O'Higgins said there were circumstances where the Court of Appeal had justification to hear new evidence and told the three-judge court that he wanted to call Dowdall's wife to give evidence, so she could explain the "difficulties" that they as a family have.
However, counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Sean Gillane SC, said he could not consent to the application and that it was "patently unnecessary" as the sentencing court had accepted the "dire consequences" of Dowdall.
After rising for a few moments, Mr Justice Birmingham said the court was not prepared to admit additional evidence from Dowdall's spouse as the Special Criminal Court was "to a significant extent" focused on the decisions made by the appellant, "not just on his life but his family's life".
Opposing the appeal on Tuesday, Mr Gillane said the central point in the State's submissions was that the four-year sentence handed down to Dowdall could be regarded as generous in terms of the overall nature of the case".
The hotel room booked at the Regency Hotel, counsel said, was the "launchpad" for the murder of Kinahan Cartel member David Byrne; "that was the facilitation of a criminal organisation". "It was not just the credit card being used to reserve a room but it also involved the bringing of a hotel key to the leading member of that criminal organisation," he submitted.
Dowdall's sentencing hearing was told that Room 2104 in the Regency Hotel was booked in the name of Jonathan's father Patrick Dowdall on February 4th 2016, one day before Mr Byrne's murder.
Patrick Dowdall's mobile phone number was also on the hotel's system, while a credit card connected to a family member of the Dowdalls had been used to secure the booking over the phone. A man wearing a flat cap – identified as the now deceased Kevin Murray – was observed on CCTV entering the hotel and spent the night in the room.
Mr Murray, who cooperated with the "tactical team" that raided the Regency Hotel, died from motor neurone disease in 2017 before he could be brought to trial.
The State's barrister said the four-year sentence received by Dowdall was "indeed a generous" one and reflected the sentencing court giving as much measure as possible to the appellant, given the circumstances he had found himself in.
"Was it fair? Unequivocally yes," stated Mr Gillane, adding that the headline sentence of eight years was in the midrange, "unimpeachable" and that two separate discounts were applied thereafter totalling a 50 per cent reduction from the headline sentence.
'Duped'
In reply, Mr O'Higgins said Dowdall was "duped" and put in a set of circumstances where once the garda investigation began then his client was in the firing line. "There was no loyalty to him, he was front and centre", he concluded.
Mr Justice Birmingham, sitting with Ms Justice Una Ní Raifeartaigh, and Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, reserved judgement in the sentence appeal.
On September 28th last year, Dowdall (44) – a married father of four with an address at Navan Road, Cabra, Dublin 7 – pleaded guilty at the Special Criminal Court to making a room available to the Hutch gang at the Regency Hotel, Swords Road, north Dublin, where the notorious murder of Kinahan Cartel member David Byrne (34) occurred in February 2016.
The appellant had been originally charged with the murder of Byrne in April 2021 but the State dropped that charge after Dowdall admitted to the lesser charge of facilitating the Hutch gang by making a hotel room available for use by the perpetrators the night before the attack.
On October 17th 2022, Dowdall was sentenced by the Special Criminal Court to four years imprisonment for facilitating the Hutch gang in the murder of Byrne, as part of the first convictions in the long-running investigation into the Regency Hotel shooting.
In December of last year, Dowdall launched his appeal against his four-year jail-term for facilitating the murder.
Sentence hearing
At Dowdall's sentence hearing last October, Mr O'Higgins said his client was not aware of the purpose or the significance for which the room in the Regency was to be used and that Jonathan had not used the hotel room.
Counsel also told the court that due to the exceptional circumstances of the case, all forms of sentencing were available, including the imposition of a suspended sentence. "He has made himself available as a witness which means his life is over. No injustice is done by giving him a suspended sentence," counsel said.
Mr O'Higgins, for Dowdall, said the decision for Jonathan Dowdall to give a statement to gardai had placed a "very, very heavy burden" on Dowdall and his family, that his client was facing a "pretty grim" future and that he would never again live in Ireland. "In effect, it's like taking your life and standing it on its head," he added.
The lawyer also said his client’s agreement to testify had "very dark consequences" for the Dowdalls and that his life was "effectively over". Mr O'Higgins added that his client would be living in "permanent exile" and have to spend his life looking over his shoulder.
When sentencing Dowdall at the Special Criminal Court last October, presiding judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt noted that the former electrician knew that he was assisting "a serious criminal organisation" and that he had received and followed instructions to obtain the hotel room at the Regency Hotel.
"He gave a key card to another member of the criminal organisation and made a room available to a leading gang member. The consequences of the assistance were particularly grave," said the judge.
Mr Justice Hunt said Dowdall was "complicit in the crime" despite maintaining that he was not aware of the purpose or the significance for which the room in the Regency was to be used.
Referring to a submission by counsel for Dowdall that no "injustice" would be done by giving his client a suspended sentence due to exceptional circumstances of the case, Mr Justice Hunt said that "regrettably" the court could not accept this. The offer of assistance to the prosecution, he emphasised, did not justify a wholly suspended sentence.
The non-jury court set the headline sentence at eight years' imprisonment.
Mr Justice Hunt said Dowdall had previously committed "serious crimes of violence" and that he was not a person of previous good character. Both Jonathan and his father, Patrick Dowdall (65), of the same address, have previous convictions for false imprisonment, threatening to kill and causing serious harm from January 2015.
The judge said the appropriate deduction from the headline sentence to take into account Dowdall's guilty plea was 25 per cent, resulting in a sentence of six years imprisonment.
The non-jury court also accepted that Dowdall's service of the custodial sentence would "undoubtedly create difficulties" for his partner and family but Mr Justice Hunt said that this was part of the consequences of the crime.
The judge said that the "extraordinary additional factor" was Jonathan Dowdall's decision to make a formal statement to gardai and give evidence against others.
He added: "It is not part of our function to assess the relevance of this. Given the gravity of the crime and the consequences of that crime, we do not consider that additional mitigation arises below the custodial threshold".
The three-judge court accepted that "the immediate and lasting effect of assistance to the authorities" had placed Dowdall and his family "in significant peril, something which will continue after his release from prison".
Mr Justice Hunt also pointed out that due to the defendant's life being "upended" and made "more onerous and dangerous", Dowdall was entitled to a further significant reduction of two years from the six-year sentence.
Mr Justice Hunt sentenced Jonathan Dowdall - who previously served as an elected Sinn Fein councillor in the north inner city ward in May 2014 and resigned less than one year later - to four years imprisonment, which he said was a total discount of 50 percent from the headline sentence. The sentence was not backdated.
Patrick Dowdall was jailed for two years for his facilitation role in the Regency murder by the Special Criminal Court.
Jonathan Dowdall was being assessed for the Witness Protection Programme when he gave evidence for the State against his former friend and one-time co-accused, Mr Hutch, who denied the murder of Mr Byrne.
