Former Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan Dowdall has told the Special Criminal Court that he was "set up" and that Gerard Hutch put "a massive amount of pressure" on him after he was granted bail on the charge of murdering David Byrne.
Dowdall said he had already decided to speak to the gardaí but he could not tell Mr Hutch because the Hutch's were prepared "to throw someone else under a bus".
The 59-year-old from the Paddocks in Clontarf in Dublin has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Kinahan gang member David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in February 2016.
The charge of murder against Dowdall was dropped and he is serving four years in prison for helping a criminal gang commit the murder.
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In his third day in the witness box, Dowdall said he was not involved in the murder of David Byrne and that he believed that when he went to speak to the gardaí to tell them the truth, the charge of murder against him would be dropped.
Under cross examination, he said he should not have been charged with murder. He said people booked a room in the Regency Hotel to put a man he did not know in it, one of the gunmen, and "tied it back" to him and his family.
He described it as "a set-up" and said the Hutch's were willing "to throw someone else under the bus".
Referring to Brendan Grehan’s suggestion that it was Patsy not Gerard Hutch who collected the room keycard from him and his father, he said "your client is willing to throw his own brother under the bus, Gerard got the card your honour".
"You’d want to be deranged if you knew something like that was going to happen," he said, adding "I wasn’t involved in David Byrne’s murder. Of course I was going to speak to the guards."
"After you find out a room was used you knew nothing about, to set you up in a murder. I wasn’t involved in the murder," he said.
He also reiterated that he could not speak to the gardaí in 2016 when he was first arrested in connection with the murder of David Byrne but said if he had he would not have been charged.
"Partly it was my fault I was charged with murder when I didn’t explain certain things, partly because of a danger to my wife and children," he said.
"Why would I take the blame for a murder I wasn’t involved in to keep other people happy".
"If I had told the truth about certain things when I was arrested, I would never have been charged," he said. "I didn’t lie to any gardaí, not answering a question and telling a lie are two different things".
He also said he did not "frame" Gerard Hutch.
"I didn't put Gerard Hutch in the frame, Gerard Hutch put himself in the frame," he said.
Dowdall also testified about his time in Wheatfield Prison with Gerard Hutch. He said he did not open his cell door until midday, but Gerard Hutch kept coming into his cell most days.
He said Gerard Hutch had a copy of the secret garda recordings of their conversation and he gave him the transcripts in Wheatfield for two or three days because he did not have a copy.
"I went along with Gerard," he said, "I had no choice. I was hardly going to tell him I was going to the police."
He also said when he was granted bail on the murder charge, Gerard Hutch "put demands on me leaving prison".
He said his bail conditions were read out on the landing for everyone to hear and part of the conditions were that he was not to "mix" or associate with members of the Hutch family.
However, he said that Gerard Hutch imposed his own conditions on him and told him he was to make himself available to his solicitor "24/7", he gave him his son’s phone number and told him to contact him within a week.
He also said that Gerard Hutch sent his son to his home, he sent people "in motorbike helmets" to his home, and put letters in his post box.
"There were people coming to my home" he said, "it's on CCTV, all given to the gardaí, motorbikes pulling up, his solicitor contacted my solicitor looking for bail conditions."
"There was a massive amount of pressure put on me," he said.
He also continued to protest his innocence of involvement in the murder of David Byrne and that his reason for going to the gardaí was to tell the truth.
"That’s solid ground," he said. "I wasn’t involved in the murder. I spoke to the guards to explain certain things, I wasn’t involved in the murder, I didn’t want to be charged with murder - of course I wanted the murder charge to be dropped if I wasn't involved in the murder but I couldn’t defend myself."
He also said he did not trust certain gardaí but decided to speak to retired Detective Superintendent Paul Scott because he said he saw the abuse the officer was receiving online and he knew he was "no friend of them."
"There was guards involved in the last trial who played a part in collapsing that trial," he said, "and I wasn’t going to take the risk of speaking to anyone until I knew it was secure."
Dowdall tells court he is 'not a rat'
Jonathan Dowdall told the Special Criminal Court this afternoon that he is "not a rat" but if he was required to come to court in future and give evidence against Patsy Hutch or anyone else in connection with the murder of David Byrne, he would.
He claimed in court that Gerard Hutch's brother Patsy "was involved in it" and he said he was sorry for what happened to David Byrne and apologised to his family.
He said he was trying to help people when he agreed to ask dissident republicans to mediate in the feud but he said today "I should have minded me own business. I had a successful company. I should have had nothing to do with it. I'm in this position.
"I trusted Patsy. Patsy was involved in it. If down the road I'm required to come into this court and give evidence against Patsy, I will do that," he said.
"I’m not a rat, they're rattin on people for years. If I am required for anything else with this, I'll be here.
"I f**ked up with what I done with Alex Hurley and it was my fault I got involved in this and I'm sorry for that."
He also expressed regret today for what he said about Mary Lou McDonald, the leader of Sinn Féin.
"I'm not involved in Sinn Féin. I made a comment about Mary Lou which was very unfair on a personal level," he said. "What I done is being used to drag down a political party and I think that's very unfair.
Everybody knows Sinn Féin are the most hated, reports done in the Independent, that's very unfair."
He also insisted that the Provisional IRA were not involved in the Regency Hotel shooting.
"The Provos, that was donkeys years ago," he said, "The provos had nothing to do with this, as far as I'm gone they're stood down, they're finished. It's reported in the media, the provos, they’re active and involved in gangland and that's wrong.
"Mr Hutch has more contacts with senior IRA people than me," he said. He also complained that the Regency murder was being planned while he was being asked to arrange mediation. "I was sent up while that was being planned in the background," he said.
Dowdall said that Gerard Hutch negotiated a €35,000 debt reduction with drug dealers for Dowdall's father-in-law.
Dowdall told the court today that his father-in-law was paying a drugs debt for his son and the drug dealers were looking for €120,000.
Dowdall said he asked Gerard Hutch if he knew them and said Hutch went to speak to them and "got agreement for €85,000 and that money had to be paid".
He also said that amount of money was "never owed" and that afterwards the INLA man and convicted killer Declan "Whacker" Duffy tried to extort money from Dowdall's father-in-law.
Dowdall said he contacted Mickey Brennan, an ex-IRA man in his 60s he knew from the north inner city and he advised him to speak to William "Fluff" Gallagher in the North.
Dowdall said he and Brennan went to Northern Ireland and met Gallagher who told them it was not true, there were no demands from the INLA for money.
Defence Counsel Brendan Grehan said to Dowdall he wanted to know how it was that he was "the go to guy" when it came to contacting the paramilitaries.
Dowdall said he knew republicans growing up, from living in the north inner city.
He also admitted that he knew Alan Ryan, the former Dublin leader of the Real IRA, and his brother Vincent, both of whom have been shot dead.
He said Alan Ryan called to his house one night with a group of "heavies" but he said he was "not prepared to say" why the Real IRA were there.
He also admitted that he visited the convicted Garda killer Pearse McAuley in Castlerea prison but insisted he was only there "two or three times" until Mr Grehan produced the prison records which showed Dowdall had visited McAuley 14 time in 11 months between February 2015 and January 2016.
Mr Grehan reminded him that it was an offence to lie under oath.
In relation to Pearse McAuley's attack on his wife the Sinn Féin TD Pauline Tully, for which he served seven years, Dowdall described it as "a tragic event for all concerned".
"I know his wife, 100%, what he was in for was horrendous but I didn't judge him," he said. "I went to speak to him. He was involved with Sinn Féin and that was after happening."
Dowdall said he met Pearse McAuley through Sinn Féin and admitted telling him about the problems the Hutchs' were having with the Kinahans on a visit in January 2016, a month before the Regency murder.
He said he told Mc Auley that "Patsy was being targeted to be murdered, and other family members.
"I need to speak to someone to stop what's going on. He told me not to have a bar at it, not to get involved."
"I wanted to help, I should have never got involved," at Patsy Hutch's request, he said.
McAuley said he recommended he contact 'Wee' and gave him a phone number. He described McAuley as a second father to him and said he met him through Sinn Féin.
He also said he had been invited on to the Republican landing in Portlaoise prison but got thrown off after they read the book of evidence.
"You have to be invited on to the landing," he said. "Anyone in E block has to give their book of evidence and they look at your book of evidence and the Regency thing and that was it. We were asked to leave."
Judge issues warning over recording of Hutch trial
Earlier, the Presiding Judge in the trial of Gerard Hutch who denies the murder of David Byrne warned people not to record or video proceedings.
Prosecuting counsel Sean Gillane told the three judges footage of the hearing from the overflow court had been circulated online.
Ms Justice Tara Burns said it was absolutely prohibited and an offence to record proceedings in any court.
She said there may be a criminal investigation into what occurred, but she said would not preside over a trial where this occurs, and it was not to happen again.
She also asked that a garda be posted to the overflow court and called on people there who see anything like that to come to the main court "at any time" and inform the court.
The cross examination of Jonathan Dowdall continues tomorrow.
