Supreme Court dismisses Jason Bonney’s appeal over Regency conviction

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

The Supreme Court has dismissed Jason Bonney’s appeal against his conviction for facilitating the Hutch criminal organisation in carrying out the 2016 murder of David Byrne at Dublin’s Regency Hotel. Bonney was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison.

The appeal concerned the trial court’s treatment of defence witness evidence about the movements of a black BMW as alibi evidence, which allowed the prosecution to call rebuttal witness Paul Byrne. The Supreme Court held that one witness’s evidence should not have been treated as alibi evidence because it did not address Bonney’s whereabouts. However, it found that Byrne’s evidence was admissible in response to the other witness’s alibi evidence and that Bonney suffered no injustice. The court said the trial court had independently rejected both defence witnesses’ evidence and was satisfied of Bonney’s guilt.