Courts / Dublin / Report

Jailing claustrophobic Kinahan Cartel director like putting "a man with arachnophobia in a cell with spiders", court told

Summary

The Special Criminal Court sentenced Patrick Curtis and Mohammed Smew for their roles in a Kinahan Cartel plot to murder Patrick "Patsy" Hutch. Curtis, 38, pleaded guilty to directing the activities of a criminal organisation between February and March 2018. Smew, 27, pleaded guilty to participating in the organisation's activities, including providing vehicles and planning an attempted shooting. The court heard that Curtis suffers from claustrophobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder, while Smew was remanded in custody after a separate arrest, which ended his involvement. This sentencing concludes the case against the last two men involved in the plot. Previously, Michael Burns was jailed for nine years, while Stephen Curtis and Ciaran O'Driscoll received five-year sentences. Mark Capper, who withdrew from the plan, was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years. In a related 2019 case, Gary Thompson, Glen Thompson, and Robert Browne were sentenced to 12.5 years and 11.5 years respectively for planning the murder. The court noted the gang's hierarchical structure, with leadership operating from the Middle East coordinating sub-cells. The planned attack involved a staging post, a ruse to lure the victim, and a getaway route, though the operation was intercepted by the Emergency Response Unit before execution.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Jailing claustrophobic Kinahan Cartel director like putting "a man with arachnophobia in a cell with spiders", court told. Charges or matters: directing the activities of a criminal organisation within the State between February 1 and March 10, 2018; participating in the activities of a criminal organisation, to wit the murder of Mr Hutch, by providing, moving and repairing vehicles, and of the planning or assisting to plan an attempted shooting between February 1, 2018, and March 3, 2018; passing instructions to one or more members of a criminal organisation and of acting as a conduit for communications by providing phones; agreeing to act as a look-out and to helping plan the intended shooting. Procedural stage: sentence

When:

• February 1 Incident
• March 10, 2018 Incident
• February 1, 2018 Other
• March 3, 2018 Other
• July 2019 Hearing Or Sentence
• March 2018 Incident
• February 28 Other
• March 10 Other
• March 27 Incident
• August 31 Adjournment
• 2020-07-30 Publication

Why: During the sentence hearing for Patrick Curtis and Mohammed Smew, Curtis's barrister told the three-judge court that his client had compromised the integrity of his encrypted phone by using his personal phone to take screen grabs of it in order to keep a record. CNI source report

Case subjects

Places mentioned

Topics

Stage Sentence Violent Crime

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Read the original CNI report