Dowdall claims Monk is 'terrorising' his family

Former Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan Dowdall has told the Special Criminal Court that his family faces terrorisation and death threats following his decision to give evidence for the prosecution in the trial of Gerard Hutch, who is charged with the murder of Kinahan cartel member David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in Dublin on 5 February 2016. Dowdall, who has pleaded guilty to facilitating Byrne's murder, testified that his 62-year-old mother and his children, some as young as ten years old, have been subject to threats. He stated that the threats have prevented his children from attending school since September. The witness explained during cross-examination by defence counsel Brendan Grehan SC that discrepancies between his current testimony and statements given to gardaí in May 2016 stemmed from his inability to speak freely at that earlier time. Dowdall attributed this inability to fear for his family's safety. Grehan put it to the witness that he had deliberately provided false information to gardaí regarding his whereabouts and knowledge of the attack. Hutch, aged 59 and from Clontarf in Dublin, denies the murder charge. He is being tried before a three-judge panel at the Special Criminal Court, comprising Justice Tara Burns and judges Sarah Berkeley and Gráinne Malone. Dowdall's evidence has formed a central part of the prosecution case. He has testified that Hutch told him he and another man shot Byrne, and that covertly recorded conversations between the two men contained what prosecutors argue are admissions of involvement in the fatal shooting. The trial was scheduled to resume on Monday following Dowdall's cross-examination.