Two members of the Hutch family have told Prime Time about their experience living through the Hutch-Kinahan feud, which saw several of their relatives killed, others the target of attempted murders, and gunshots fired at their home.
Vera and Amy Hutch were speaking after the sentencing yesterday of Thomas McConnell for the murder of Gareth Hutch at the height of the feud in 2016. Gareth was Vera's son and Amy’s brother.
"We got justice for Gareth yesterday," Vera told Prime Time during an interview in her home in Dublin’s inner city, "he was caught, and it might deter other lads from getting involved in anything like that."
"It’s nine years later... but we got justice in the end," Amy added.
McConnell was extradited from Turkey to Ireland three years ago to face the charge, and convicted at the Special Criminal Court. He was given a life sentence.
Gareth Hutch was shot dead in broad daylight in May 2016 shortly after leaving his home at the Avondale House flats complex in Dublin's north inner city.
McConnell is the fourth person convicted for what was described in court as his "brutal and callous" murder.
Three months before his killing, Gareth had carried the coffin of his uncle Eddie, who was shot dead within days of the high-profile attack on a boxing weigh-in at the Regency Hotel, which was attended by members of the Kinahan cartel.
Eddie Hutch was the brother of Gerard Hutch, known as 'The Monk,’ who has been named in the High Court as the head of the Hutch Organised Crime Group.
Gareth Hutch was a nephew of Gerard Hutch and Eddie Hutch. His father, Johnny Hutch, a brother of both men, survived a gun attack during the feud.
Gareth’s brother Jonathan is also thought to have been the intended target of an attack in Majorca which saw Dublin City Council worker and innocent father of three, Trevor O’Neill, killed in a case of mistaken identity.
Neither Eddie, Jonathan, nor Johnny Hutch were involved in organised crime.
In the months prior to his murder, Gareth Hutch reportedly had concerns he was at risk, and wanted to move away from his flat. Garda sources told Prime Time Gareth also had no involvement in the Hutch Organised Crime Group, and that they believe he was targeted due to his name.
Since Gareth’s killing, Vera said "nothing has been the same."
"I feel like a broken woman, you know, since that. They don’t know what they’re putting people through."
"I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, between cars getting burned, houses getting burned," Amy, one of Gareth’s seven sisters, added.
Vera said that if the murder happened a day earlier, Gareth would have been with his son, who he "adored."
"We said ‘thank God it didn't happen on the Monday’ because he would have had a little fella for the weekend, and he would've been taking him to school."
The day of Gareth's murder
On the day of Gareth’s killing, Vera Hutch said she was driving to collect her husband Johnny when her phone rang. She couldn’t hear her niece at the other end of the line, and said she’d call her back.
She then saw her husband standing in the middle of the road, waving down the car. Johnny got into the car and Vera asked him what was wrong.
"Gareth’s after getting shot, he's dead," he told her.
"We drove straight up to Avondale flats and we drove in, and Gareth was on the ground, and I’ll never forget it as long I live... Horrible," she told Miriam O’Callaghan.
Amy had arrived at the scene moments before.
"I lived around the corner from, so I got a phone call straight away," she said, "I got to see my own brother lying half-dead, like he was just almost dead like, and just a blanket over him."
"So I got to pull the blanket just to make sure it was Gar, and I'll never forget that image either."
Just four months after the murder of Gareth Hutch, there was an attempt to kill Johnny, Vera’s husband, when they arrived back together in their car at the family home.
As the gunmen appeared, Vera said, Johnny ran into his back garden to escape. They then fired into the garden, where their daughter Carol, who has additional needs, was sitting.
Amy was also in the house at the time.
"The fella that tried to shoot my dad just shot over the wall," Amy said, "I don't know whether he knew whether Carol was there or not, but all I could do was just barricade myself over my sister and hoping that I’d get the bullet and she doesn’t."
The gunman was probably firing for about two minutes she said, but "it felt like 20 minutes."
Speaking from the very house that attack took place at, Vera said: "I was looking at a man fire shots into the back [of the house].. there was that many shots that they got fired, I didn't know was Johnny dead or her alive, [or] was Carol dead or alive."
Johnny Hutch was not injured during the attack. He died following a fall at his home in July 2019.
Michael Carroll, of Bride Street, Dublin 8 - who a court later heard was trying to ingratiate himself with the Kinahan gang – was sentenced to ten years in prison in October 2023 for the attack.
Carroll was originally charged with attempted murder for the attack, but that charge was later dropped when he admitted possessing guns with intent to endanger life.
Living through the feud
Living with the Hutch name, especially during the height of the Hutch-Kinahan feud, has been difficult for Vera and her children.
"You mention the Hutch name and everyone looks around. Don't get me wrong. I'm proud of the name, I’m proud of Johnny, like but once you mention the name, everyone looks around," Vera told said.
Amy says she’s "proud as well" and has "nothing against" the name. However, she said because of "what has been going on when they hear ‘Hutch’ you'd probably get a double look, but I'm used to it now."
"I don’t think it’s as bad now as what it was when the feuds were on."
She said she was always worried about people in her family being killed, thinking "who's dead now? who's after getting shot? What's going on? Whose car has been burnt out?"
"It was horrible back then and I wouldn't wish that on nobody's family, but I'm glad it's all over. I hope it's all over," Amy said.
Vera said she wouldn’t want any family to go through what her family has been through. She said it still impacts her life today.
"It's horrible. I wouldn't wish it on anyone...you didn’t know if you were coming or going. Often driving the car and a bike would pull up beside me and I jumped and my hands and all would be off the [steering wheel]," she said.
"[I] stopped driving for ages, I still don’t. The car’s out there, I don’t even use it."
"I hope it’s ending now. Like everything is gone quiet," Vera added.
Despite everything that has happened, Vera has not moved out of her home, has not left the north inner city, where she’s lived for over 50 years. She says it is a "great community."
"When that happened to Gar and Johnny, all the people got together and came in. [They were] great, now I have to say, and still are."
Miriam O’Callaghan’s interview with Vera and Amy Hutch is broadcast on RTÉ One on the Tuesday 28 January edition of Prime Time. It is also available on the RTÉ Player.
