A man accused of helping a criminal gang commit the murder of a member of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group said he was shocked and very frightened when gardaí informed him his life was under threat.
Jason Bonney said he had "been through hell and back" and blamed the gardaí for putting his life in danger.
He told gardaí during interviews in May 2016 after he was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the murder three months earlier, that he saw no reason why he was under threat, but that it started when the gardaí came to talk to him about the Regency.
"I feel the guards dealing with the situation have put the threat on my life," he said.
He told them that he was living "in great fear" and that he was afraid for his family and that he did not want to be talking about his family business.
"I see no problem helping the guards," he said.
"We've been put in dangerous circumstances, I don’t feel good about it, I don’t even have penalty points, we are law abiding citizens."
He also said he felt he was being victimised.
The 51-year-old from Drumigh Wood, Portmarnock in Dublin has pleaded not guilty to helping the gang commit the murder.
61-year-old Paul Murphy of Cherry Avenue, Swords in Co Dublin, has also pleaded not guilty to the same charge, while 59-year-old Gerard Hutch of the Paddocks in Clontarf has pleaded not guilty to murder.
Mr Bonney said the gardaí told him the threat on his life had to do with the Regency.
"I’ve been getting calls on my phone since the gardaí told me," he said.
He told the gardaí the Kinahan Organised Crime Group did not see him as a threat and he could not see any reason why they would be involved in threatening him.
He said he was involved in boxing, had coached and set up boxing clubs and had been invited to the boxing weigh-in at the Regency Hotel by Mathew Macklin from MGM. He said he had never been at the MGM gym in Spain.
Earlier this afternoon, a detective told the Special Criminal Court that a jeep driven by Mr Bonney was part of a convoy which took people involved in murder away from the Regency Hotel and aided their escape, after Kinahan gang member David Byrne had been shot dead.
Detective Sergeant Pat O’Toole told the court that he arrested Mr Bonney for murder at one of his homes in Newbrook Avenue in Donaghmede on the morning of the 27 May 2016.
He said work was being carried out at the time at Mr Bonney’s property in Drumnigh Wood.
The detective said he told the sergeant in charge at Ballymun Garda Station, John Collins, that Mr Bonney’s BMW X5 Jeep had been tracked on CCTV on the day of the murder of Mr Byrne on 5 February 2016 and that Mr Bonney was suspected of having been involved.
He said he showed the sergeant CCTV of Mr Bonney’s jeep at numerous locations, including the car park at St Vincent’s GAA club.
He said he was satisfied the jeep was there at the time the murder was taking place and was part of a convoy that went there to take away the people involved in the murder and aid their escape.
He said a person with a hold-all bag got in to the jeep and is seen of CCTV leaving the GAA club.
The court has heard previously that the state claims that person is Kevin Murray, the deceased dissident republican known as 'flat cap’, who was one of the gunmen at the Regeny Hotel on the day of the murder.
This morning the court heard testimony from the sergeant in charge of Ballymun Garda Station on 23 May 2016, the day Mr Murphy was arrested.
The sergeant, Alan Mc Govern, told the court that Inspector Brian Hanly arrived at the station with Mr Murphy and told him he had been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the murder of Mr Byrne with a firearm.
The sergeant said the Inspector told him that Mr Murphy owned a Toyota Avensis taxi and it was suspected that on the day of the murder at the Regency Hotel, Mr Murphy brought a number of people involved in the murder in his taxi to Buckingham Village in Dublin’s north inner city.
The court has already heard that this was the location where the vehicles involved in the gun attack became operative on the morning of the murder, including Mr Murphy’s taxi, Mr Bonney’s BMW X5 and the Silver Transit Van used to carry the gunmen to and from the hotel.
The sergeant in charge said he was shown CCTV footage from the day of the murder, showing Murphy’s taxi arriving at Buckingham Village three times before the attack, at 10.54am, 12.10pm, and 12.39pm.
A swipe card for access to the complex was found in Mr Murphy’s taxi and the court heard that Mr Murphy admitted he was the sole driver of the car that day.
The court also heard today that Mr Bonney’s BMW arrived at 12.16pm that day and just before 1pm (12.56pm), Mr Murphy’s taxi, Mr Bonney’s BMW and the Silver Ford transit used in the murder of Mr Byrne left the complex in convoy.
Mr Murphy was identified on CCTV around 15 minutes later at the Maxol garage on the Howth Road and then parked his taxi outside the Beachcomber pub in Killester.
The court heard that at around 1.41pm, his taxi again joined up in convoy with Mr Bonney’s BMW X5 and was then joined by another taxi, a Black Skoda.
The three cars went to St Vincent’s GAA grounds and waited there until the Regency gunmen abandoned the Transit van. The court heard Mr Murphy used his taxi to take the gunmen away from that area.
His mobile phone had also been turned off from 1.20pm to 3pm on the day of the murder, which the sergeant said he was told was "unusual when compared to normal usage".
Now retired Detective Garda William Armstrong also told the court today that he was driving an unmarked official garda vehicle on 19 February 2016 when he arrived at Cherry Avenue in Swords.
He said he saw a Toyota Avensis parked on the roadway and he believed at the time that the vehicle was sought for the murder of Mr Byrne at the Regency Hotel and he rang to have the car towed for a forensic examination.
He told the court he spoke to Mr Murphy at 6.50pm that evening and identified himself.
"When we spoke to Mr Murphy, he asked if we were gardaí and he said 'thank god' and blessed himself," said Mr Armstrong.
Chief Superintendent Finbar Murphy testified that he had a telephone conversation with Det Sgt Brian Hanley regarding the arrest of Mr Murphy at 5.58pm on 30 May, 2016.
He said that Det Sgt Hanley told him that Mr Murphy had been the driver of a light green Avensis car, which was seen prior to the murder at the Regency Hotel and that he had driven in convoy to St Vincent's GAA grounds in Marino and that he had driven "one of the assassination or assailant team" after the shooting from the GAA grounds in that car.
The trial continues tomorrow.
