Patrick Hutch on trial for murder as identification evidence challenged

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Patrick Hutch is on trial at the Special Criminal Court for the murder of David Byrne during a boxing weigh-in at Dublin’s Regency Hotel on 5 February 2016. The proceedings were reported on 22 January 2018.

Hutch is pleading not guilty to murder and denies possessing three AK47 assault rifles in connection with the shooting.

The prosecution’s case is that Hutch was a man dressed as a woman at the hotel. It says he did not shoot Byrne but was part of a “shared intention” to commit the offence.

Two detectives, Fergal O’Flaherty and Jonathan Brady, told the court they separately identified Hutch from a photograph viewed at Ballymun garda station two days after the shooting. Both said they had known him since 2014.

On 22 January 2018, defence counsel Michael O’Higgins SC argued that the identification process was “sullied and tainted” and that the evidence should be excluded. He cited shortcomings in records and accounts, and referred to a December 2016 bail hearing at which, he said, Brady gave a version conceding that the detectives made the identification in each other’s presence.

The court also heard that four gardaí who had previously interacted with Hutch did not identify him in the photograph. The submissions were continuing before presiding judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt, sitting with Judge Patricia Ryan and Judge Ann Ryan.