A former Sinn Féin councillor has admitted he previously lied to the Special Criminal Court but denied he is telling lies about Gerard Hutch's alleged involvement in the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel almost seven years ago.
Jonathan Dowdall is giving evidence against his former co-accused for a second day and is now being crossed examined by Mr Hutch’s defence counsel Brendan Grehan.
He said he deeply regretted that he tortured and waterboarded a man who came to his home to buy a motorbike.
He said that he learned to waterboard someone on the TV but had served time and taken psychology and other courses to ensure it never happened again
"I done what I done, I’m deeply sorry for what I’ve done," he said.
"I spent six years in prison, I destroyed me family life, It happened and I’m sorry it happened," he added.
However, he admitted he lied to the Special Criminal Court when he said during the sentence hearing that he did not know who recorded the video of the attack which gardaí found when they searched his home.
He admitted today he knew who recorded the video but is not prepared to say.
He said the video was to ensure that the man who came to his home to defraud him would not do it again.
Murder
Dowdall said Gerard Hutch collected the keycard for the room at the Regency Hotel from him and his father the night before the murder of David Byrne and said his father would corroborate that.
He described as "nonsense" a suggestion that it was Patsy Hutch, not Gerard Hutch, who arrived and that he would incriminate Gerard Hutch.
"I wouldn't do that, I’m telling you the truth," he said.
"It’s the truth, it was Gerard who showed up," he said, "if it was Patsy who showed up I would have said it was Patsy.
"He asked for the card, he got the card and he left. There was no conversation, that’s what happened."
"My father was present. My father is fully prepared to come in and give evidence in this trial," he continued.
"He hasn’t been asked. He said he was willing to talk to the guards, I told the guards that. We both agreed to tell the truth. My father is willing to go in to court. Its up to the people in the court to decide if they want to speak to my father," he said.
When asked by defence counsel why he was not jumping up and down to give this evidence he replied: "Who would be jumping up and down to go through this?"
He repeated that Mr Hutch told him at a meeting in a Dublin park that he shot David Byrne and said that while he made other references to it on other occasions "he never directly repeated the words that he was the one who shot David Byrne again other than in the park."
He insisted again he was not involved in the Regency attack or the murder of David Byrne.
"It was made to look like I was involved," he said, "if I did it and others were involved I wouldn’t disclose."
He accepted he had been charged with the murder and that there was a chance of him being found guilty because he said he would not have been able to mount a defence.
"I knew I couldn’t defend myself if I went to court," he told the court.
"I knew I’d have to sit over there [the dock where Gerard Hutch was sitting] and I couldn’t put up any defence whatsoever," he added.
"I knew there was a chance of being found guilty of murder. I wouldn’t be allowed put up a defence. I couldn’t explain the circumstances of the room," he said referring to the room his father booked at the Regency Hotel the night before the murder which was used by one of the gunmen.
"There was questions that needed to be answered," he said, "I couldn’t explain that sitting in this court in the dock."
Speaking to gardaí
Dowdall also said today that it was not true to say that he only wanted to speak to the gardaí after he had been charged with murder.
He said he could not talk to the gardaí at the time he was first arrested in May 2016 on suspicion of being involved in the murder of David Byrne.
"I tried to speak to the guards at the time, I was advised to remain silent," he said, "there were reasons why I couldn’t answer certain questions in that garda station. My family were outside. If I spoke in that garda station, my family were dead."
He said he was attacked in prison when a person snuck up behind him and hit him "two or three digs".
He said he did not want to go to Wheatfield Prison where Derek 'Dell Boy’ Hutch was but he had no choice.
"They told Del Boy we didn’t want to go to the landing," he said.
"Once in Wheatfield, I couldn’t do anything. If I had a visit, they would have been told."
"I was always going to the guards as soon as me family was safe," he said.
"It wasn’t I got charged with murder and lets speak to the guards," he added.
"After 2018 it was impossible for it to happen until I was released. Every visit you have is known. I wasn’t going to put my family in danger, things had happened in Wheatfield that was constantly leaked," he added.
Liveline
He denied that he told lies to Joe Duffy when he went on RTÉ’s Liveline radio programme during the garda raid on his home in March 2016 and said he had no links to criminality.
He admitted he had by that time committed a crime but was under "so much pressure at that time".
"I didn’t tell any lies to Joe Duffy," he said.
"I wasn’t involved in crime. I wasn’t involved in the Regency hotel murder. My home was searched to do with the Regency hotel. If I had a rational mind I would never have gone on to Joe Duffy. I wasn’t myself when I went on to Joe Duffy," he added.
Feud
He also said he was not told the truth about the Hutch-Kinahan feud, all he was told was the Hutch's "side of events and why Gary was killed".
He said he was asked by Patsy Hutch, Gerard’s brother, to get the IRA to intervene because threats were being made to the lives of innocent people.
He said Patsy lied to him.
He said he was told that Daniel Kinahan shot Patrick Hutch Jr in the bone when he was supposed to give him a flesh wound and he originally thought that started the feud.
However he said the reason why Patrick was shot was that there was €4.5m in an apartment Gary was staying in and they were trying to take the money.
He said Gary Hutch was in Daniel Kinahan’s house when his brother Patrick Jr hid in the bushes to shoot Daniel Kinahan "but he shot that boxer by mistake".
Mr Grehan named the boxer as Jamie Moore who was shot in Spain.
"The real reason the feud started, Gary and Patrick decided to take this money, shoot Daniel Kinahan and they shot the boxer Jamie Moore and I stand over that," he said.
"I didn’t say anyone was the wrong party, that’s the reason why it started, this thing in the media the Hutch’s were innocent. Patrick and Gary, that’s how it started, " Dowdall said.
Dowdall agreed that he then hid Patrick Jr in his house after Gary Hutch was shot dead in Spain.
He said he was told that Patrick's life was in serious danger.
"I wasn’t told the truth," he said.
"Originally Patrick and Patsy lied to me when they told they were wrongfully accused," he added.
He also spoke about contacting dissident republicans to intervene in the feud before the murder of David Byrne.
"It was January when I went [to the New IRA]," he said.
"At that point it was an easier fix, much easier fix after what happened at the Regency.
"I was told there was attempts being made, more demands for money, they couldn’t sort it out among themselves and they go in and broker some solution between the two sides.
"I didn’t know they were planning the Regency attack when I was up there on 4th February. That would look like I was asked to contact these, they would let their guard down and then this happens."
"A thing I tried to do to stop people from being killed."
Bugged recordings
Earlier, secret garda recordings of conversations between Gerard Hutch and Dowdall during a trip they took to Northern Ireland on 7 March 2016 to ask dissident republicans to intervene in the feud were played in court today.
Extracts of the conversations were put to Dowdall to explain.
He said the reference to "three yokes" in the conversation refers to the three AK-47 firearms.
The court has already heard that the gardaí caught convicted IRA man Shane Rowan with the three assault rifles used in the attack on the Regency Hotel in February 2016.
He also said that he was ashamed of "some of the things" he had said in conversation with Gerard Hutch and that he was "just saying things I thought he wanted to hear."
He also said he was worried that the dissidents thought he knew about Kevin 'Flat Cap’ Murray’s involvement in the Regency attack.
He said he did not know that another man William Gallagher, nicknamed Fluff, was connected to "Flat Cap" and he said "it was never answered how Flat Cap was involved."
"I got worried that they thought I had known Flat Cap," he said, "I think they think that was me."
Dowdall said a reference to half a dozen hitmen during their conversation was a reference to the hitmen that killed Gerard Hutch’s brother Eddie, who was shot dead three days after the murder of Mr Byrne.
He described it as "loose talk."
