Courts / Dublin / Report

Case against Hutch will collapse if court rules against State on ID evidence, trial told

Date
2018-01-23

Stage
Trial

Primary locality
Dublin City

County
Dublin

Summary

In a Special Criminal Court hearing on 23 January 2018, the prosecution of Patrick Hutch for the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel was examined. The court considered whether evidence that two detectives identified Hutch in a photo would be admissible. The defence argued the identification was tainted, citing the detectives' prior interactions with Hutch and the lack of certainty among other Gardaí. Hutch, aged 25, pleaded not guilty and denied possession of assault rifles. The prosecution maintained that Hutch was the man in a woman's dress in the photo and part of a shared intent to commit the offence. Judge Tony Hunt announced a ruling would be made the following week, with the trial adjourned until 2 February 2018.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Case against Hutch will collapse if court rules against State on ID evidence, trial told. Charges or matters: murder of David Byrne; possessing three AK47 assault rifles. Procedural stage: trial

When:

February 5th 2016 Incident
February 12th, 2016 Other
February 2nd Adjournment
2018-01-23 Publication

Why: The barrister later stated that because the two detectives had previous interactions with his client, when they looked at the photo the "most likely of the Hutches they [were] going to pick out [was] Patrick Hutch". CNI source report