Jason Bonney (55) and Paul Murphy (64) were tried alongside Gerard ‘The Monk’ Hutch at the three-judge, non-jury court in 2022
Jason Bonney (55) and Paul Murphy (64) were tried alongside Gerard ‘The Monk’ Hutch at the three-judge, non-jury court in 2022.
Hutch was acquitted of the murder of David Byrne but Bonney and Murphy were convicted of facilitating the rival Hutch criminal organisation in carrying out the murder.
Delivering judgment at the Court of Appeal today, Mr Justice John Edwards said he was not satisfied to uphold any of the grounds of appeal – whether shared or individual – and therefore dismissed both men’s appeals against their convictions. He noted that Murphy had advanced 38 grounds of appeal, while Bonney had put forward eight.
David Byrne (33) was shot and killed during a boxing weigh-in at the Regency Hotel on the Swords Road, Whitehall, Dublin 9 on February 5, 2016. Gunmen, one dressed in drag and others in fake garda uniforms, stormed the hotel in pursuit of members of the Kinahan organised crime group.
Aftermath of the Regency hotel attack. Getaway driver (inset above) Paul Murphy & (below) Jason Bonney
News in 90 Seconds – Monday, November 10th
Murphy, of Cherry Avenue, Swords, Co Dublin was jailed for nine years following his conviction for facilitating the shooting by acting as a getaway driver. Bonney, of Drumnigh Wood, Portmarnock, Dublin 13 received eight-and-a-half years for the same offence. They had both pleaded not guilty.
At the appeal hearing in October 2024, Bernard Condon SC, for Murphy, said that in finding his client guilty, the lower court had engaged in “overreach” and had made “sweeping conclusions” such as that one of the hitmen was in Murphy’s car following the shooting.
Mr Condon said there was also insufficient evidence to prove that his client knew of the existence of the Hutch criminal organisation or that he would have known that he was facilitating a serious offence. Counsel said there was evidence that Murphy knew Gerard Hutch’s brothers Patsy and Eddie through his work as a taxi driver. There was no evidence, however, that either of those men were involved in a criminal organisation, he said.
In dismissing the appeal today, Mr Justice Edwards said he was satisfied that the evidence “both direct and circumstantial”, before the Special Criminal Court (SCC) was capable of supporting the finding that Murphy had knowledge of the existence of the Hutch Criminal Organisation. He said the Court of Appeal considered that finding “unassailable”.
Part of the prosecution’s case was that one of the suspects for the shooting, Kevin “Flatcap” Murray, travelled to the Hutch organisation’s alleged base on Buckingham St. The court found Murray left the area in a Transit van which brought the gunmen to the Regency Hotel.
Mr Condon had argued it could not be determined beyond a reasonable doubt that Murray was in the van, calling the finding “entirely speculative” and unproven to the required standard.
He also criticised the court’s finding that after the raid, his client’s Toyota Avensis was at St Vincent’s GAA ground, where the prosecution alleged the shooters were dropped off before being taken away by a convoy of cars.
Counsel said the CCTV footage provided no reliable basis for identifying the vehicles at the GAA ground. He said it was a “sweeping conclusion” for the court to find that Murphy’s car was present or used to remove one of the shooters, and that such a finding was not available to the court.
Mr Justice Edwards rejected the contention that the CCTV did not support the findings of the SCC. He said the SCC was at various points able to discern the model of the vehicle and the fact that it was a taxi, and referenced its colour, its unusual alloy wheels and stickers on the back window in support of its conclusions.
Mr Justice Edwards also found there was sufficient evidence for the SCC to conclude that the Toyota Avensis had travelled in convoy with five other vehicles having collected people who were involved in the Regency attack.
He said the fact that “each and every distinctive feature” of the car was not visible in the montage was not fatal to the SCC’s findings in identification.
He also said that, having reviewed the relevant CCTV footage, the court was satisfied that there was a “sufficient evidential foundation” for inferences that were drawn by the SCC, both in relation to Kevin Murray entering Buckingham Street and in relation to the van seen leaving Bella Street being the same van that could be seen later at the Regency Hotel.
He said while there was no identification by a witness of Kevin Murray as the man on Bella Street, it was open to the court to draw the “reasonable inference” that he was the same person who had been identified in a high quality CCTV still at the Regency Hotel.
Mr Condon had also argued that interviews gardai conducted with his client prior to his arrest should have been ruled inadmissible because gardai had failed to caution him or to tell him that he was entitled to a solicitor. Brian McInerney SC, for Bonney, also argued his client’s interview without caution should have been ruled inadmissible.
Mr Justice Edwards rejected this ground of appeal today, saying the Special Criminal Court gave “cogent” and “compelling” reasons for ruling the interviews were admissible.
Mr Justice Edwards said he was satisfied that the Special Criminal Court fully engaged with the arguments that were made by both men as to the alleged unlawfulness of their respective detentions by the members in charge and “was right to reject them”.
He dismissed further grounds regarding the treatment of defence witnesses and the admission of rebuttal evidence introduced by the prosecution in relation to this.
Mr Justice Edwards said it was clear that Murphy and Bonney’s respective trials were “satisfactory” and that their verdicts were “safe”.
Following the court’s ruling, lawyers for each of the men confirmed they both plan to go ahead with appeals against their respective sentences. Mr Justice Edwards said he would make an order sending the matter forward to be listed before the President of the Court of Appeal for a sentence hearing date to be fixed.
Murphy and Bonney were convicted following a 13-week trial that concluded in January 2023.
Ms Justice Tara Burns at the Special Criminal Court said that the assistance provided by the pair was “significant” in that they carried two members of the hit team from the drop-off point at St Vincent’s GAA car park in north Dublin and away from detection. She said Murphy and Bonney had “acted in concert” with another four cars and were part of an operation that involved a high level of planning and coordination.
The three judges found that Bonney was the sole driver of a BMW X5 throughout that day and was driving the vehicle at St Vincent’s GAA car park when Kevin Murray got into his jeep after the Regency attack. Mr Murray died from motor neurone disease in 2017 before he could be brought to trial.