Conor Lally was at the Criminal Courts of Justice on Monday when Gerry ‘the Monk’ Hutch was acquitted of the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in Dublin in 2016.
He seemed, says Lally, stunned as he walked from the court. There was no car there to whisk him off, instead he and his legal team attempted to flag down a passing taxi. As was clear as the verdict was handed down by Ms Justice Tara Burns of the three-judge, non-jury Special Criminal Court, the evidence simply was not there to convict the well-known figure from Dublin gangland for the murder.
He was however adjudged to have had control of the murder weapons after the attack and the court also accepted that the Hutch family were responsible, but the DPP had opted for a specific charge of murder which was not proven.
As Irish Times crime and security editor, Lally has been writing gangland crime for more than a decade. He says the shooting at the hotel was a turning point in how gangland is policed in Ireland – it was, he said, as key an event in terms of its repercussions as the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin.
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As Garda continue to investigate Hutch, what now for the wealthy 60 year-old who is a target for the Kinahan Cartel – where can he go where is life will not be in danger?
And does the State have questions to answer – its case against Hutch failed so spectacularly with its reliance on the evidence of vicious criminal and proven liar, ex-Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall and its lack of corroborative evidence? Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon and Suzanne Brennan.
