A Garda has admitted that a search team "made an error" by not seizing a key to a Ford Transit Van that they saw hanging in the hall of Patrick Hutch's home in Dublin just over two weeks after the murder of a Kinahan gangster at the Regency Hotel in February 2016.
Detective Sergeant Patrick O’Toole said the house on Champions Avenue in Dublin was searched twice by gardaí investigating the murder of David Byrne who was shot dead.
Two other men, Aaron Bolger and Sean McGovern who has been named and sanctioned by the US authorities, were also shot and injured during the attack.
The detective told the Special Criminal Court today that Patrick James Hutch from Champions Avenue was identified as a man dressed as a woman at the Regency Hotel that day, and that his brother Gary Hutch, who was murdered in Spain, had been shot because of a dispute between the Hutch and Kinahan families.
Twenty-nine-year-old Patrick Hutch pleaded not guilty to the murder of David Byrne.
His trial collapsed in February of 2019 after the Director of Public Prosecutions entered a "nolle prosecui" against him meaning the state did not proceed with the charges against him.
Detective Sergeant O'Toole said that during the first search of the house on Champions Avenue on 23 February 2016, gardaí saw an ignition and door key for a Ford Transit Van on a key rack in the hall which was not accounted for by the occupier.
The key was not seized, and the detective said he later discovered that the key to the Silver Transit Van used in the murder of David Byrne had not been recovered and had not been found in the burned-out van used in the gun attack.
Two days later gardaí got a second search warrant and went back to the house on Champions Avenue, but the key was not in the same place and gardaí did not find it.
Detective Sergeant O Toole admitted "it was an error that it was not seized on the day. I went back for a warrant to try and seize that." He said it was unusual to have to go back to the same address so soon.
During the second search at Champions Avenue, gardaí seized an eFlow tag for a motor vehicle, and an ACT access control swipe card which was found in a wallet along with Patrick (Patsy) Hutch senior’s driving licence in the pocket of a jacket on the stairs.
A logbook was also found in Patsy Hutch’s bedroom for a silver Ford Transit Van which was registered to Dowdall Electrical. The van was not present at the address and had a different registration number to the one used in the murder at the Regency Hotel.
The detective sergeant also gave evidence of searching an apartment at Buckingham Village in March 2016.
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.
Gardaí seized a box containing numerous ACT swipe cars which enable access to the complex through security gates. Four swipe cards were missing from one packet of cards.
The court has already heard that along with the swipe card found at Patrick Hutch's home, another swipe card was found in Paul Murphy's taxi.
Fifty-nine-year-old Gerard Hutch of the Paddocks in Clontarf has pleaded not guilty to the murder of David Byrne, while 50-year-old Jason Bonney of Drumnigh Wood in Portmarnock in Co Dublin and 61-year-old Paul Murphy of Cherry Avenue, Swords in Co Dublin have both pleaded not guilty to helping a gang commit the murder.
The trial continues tomorrow.
