A man accused of participating in the murder of Kinahan Cartel member David Byrne told gardaí that he got an invite to the boxing weigh-in at the Regency Hotel from former professional boxer Matthew Macklin from MGM, the Special Criminal Court heard on Monday.
Accused man Jason Bonney also said that his son, who is a seven-time European bronze medallist, also got invited to the boxing event where Mr Byrne was shot dead.
The court also heard two interviews with Mr Bonney, in which he told detectives that he was shocked and frightened when gardaí informed him that his life was under threat.
The 51-year-old told detectives that the Kinahan organised crime group did not see him as a threat and he could not see any reason why they would be involved in threatening him.
Gerard Hutch (59), last of The Paddocks, Clontarf, Dublin 3, denies the murder of Mr Byrne (33) during a boxing weigh-in at the Regency Hotel on February 5, 2016. Mr Hutch’s two co-accused - Paul Murphy (61), of Cherry Avenue, Swords, Co Dublin and Jason Bonney (51), of Drumnigh Wood, Portmarnock, Dublin 13 have pleaded not guilty to participating in or contributing to the murder of Mr Byrne by providing access to motor vehicles on February 5, 2016. It is the prosecution’s case that a silver Ford transit van containing six people left the Regency Hotel after the shooting, including three persons dressed in tactical garda clothing. The raiders then made good their escape by using a number of parked vehicles at St Vincent’s GAA club.
Sean Gillane SC, prosecuting, said in his opening address that “an integral part of the operation” which led to Mr Byrne’s death was the means by which the tactical team escaped, which is central to the case of Mr Bonney and Mr Murphy. Evidence was given last week that now retired Detective Garda Alan Crummey said he went to Mr Bonney’s house on February 21st, 2016, the day after his BMWX5 was seized but the accused declined to make a statement.
Detective Sergeant Padraig O’Toole told Mr Gillane today that he went to another home belonging to Mr Bonney at Newbrook Avenue in Donaghmede on the morning of May 27th, 2016, where the accused’s wife opened the door. The witness said he spoke to Mr Bonney in an upstairs bedroom and arrested him at 7.20am for the murder of Mr Byrne at the Regency Hotel with a firearm.
In his first interview on May 27th, 2016, when asked if he was aware that the boxing weigh-in was happening, Mr Bonney said he had got an invite from “Matthew Macklin MGM” and said he knew him through “the boxing”.
The court has heard that the Regency Hotel was hosting a weigh-in on February 5th for a boxing event due to take place the following day at the National Stadium and that had been advertised as the ‘Clash of the Clans’. The event, widely publicised on social media, was a co-promotion between Queensberry Promotions and MGM, a Marbella-based firm which ran a boxing management company and a boxing gym in Marbella in Spain.
Mr Bonney said he didn’t want to be talking about his family business, that his jeep was taken and his home searched, which didn’t make it look good “in front of other people”. “Gardaí told us to leave the country,” he added.
“I don’t even have penalty points, we are law abiding citizens,” he continued.
When gardai asked Mr Bonney if he had replied to Matthew Macklin, Mr Bonney said he was “a good lad” and had a “good character”. The accused said he was never in Macklin’s gym in Marbella in Spain and was not associated with it.
When gardai asked the accused why he did not want to talk about the Regency Hotel, he said because there was a threat on his life.
“So gardaí told you it was to do with the Regency,” asked detectives. The accused said it was.
He said he had been getting calls on his phone through the night since he was told there was a threat on his life. “I was asked if I was Jason Bonney and they said 72 hours,” he replied.
“Any reason they would be calling you,” asked the gardai. “Certainly not like that,” he replied.
“Why did they tell you you were under threat? asked the officers. “Because of the Kinahan Cartel,” said the accused.
Asked if the Kinahan Cartel saw him as a threat, Mr Bonney said: “No absolutely not, Matthew Macklin knows me well”. He said he went to school with Gary Finnegan.
“I don’t think they see me as a threat, I can’t see why,” he added.
The accused said he was affiliated with Corinthians Boxing Club in the 1990s and that he helped out other clubs through the years.
In his second interview, Mr Bonney said he was willing to answer any questions but the problem was the “death threat’ on him. He said he was the main driver of the BMWX5 in recent times.
Mr Bonney’s lawyers are challenging the admissibility of evidence of his interviews and Monday’s evidence was heard in a Voir Dire.
Blessed himself
Earlier on Monday, the court heard that taxi driver Paul Murphy said “thank god” when gardaí arrived at his house to tow his car two weeks after the shooting and blessed himself, the Special Criminal Court was told on Monday.
Garda witnesses also told the court of being informed that Mr Murphy was suspected of having driven one of the gunmen away after the Regency Hotel attack.
The three-judge court also heard that a mobile phone registered to Mr Murphy was turned off between 1.20pm and 3pm on the day that Mr Byrne was shot dead which detectives believed was “unusual” in comparison to the “normal usage” of the accused’s mobile device. The court has heard that the attack at the hotel began at 2.28pm that day.
Now retired Detective Garda William Armstrong told Sean Gillane SC, prosecuting, that he was driving an unmarked official garda vehicle on February 19 2016 when he arrived at Cherry Avenue in Swords. He said he observed a Toyota Avensis parked on the roadway and he believed at the time that the vehicle was sought for the murder of Mr Byrne at the Regency Hotel. Having observed the vehicle, Mr Armstrong said he made a phone call to have the vehicle towed for a forensic examination. The witness spoke to Mr Murphy at 6.50pm that evening and identified himself.
“When we spoke to Mr Murphy, he asked if we were gardaí and he said ‘thank god’ and blessed himself,” said Mr Armstrong.
Mr Byrne, from Crumlin, was shot dead at the hotel in Whitehall, Dublin 9 after five men, three disguised as armed gardaí in tactical clothing and carrying AK-47 assault rifles, stormed the building during the attack, which was hosting a boxing weigh-in at the time. The victim was shot by two of the tactical assailants and further rounds were delivered to his head and body. Mr Byrne died after suffering catastrophic injuries from six gunshots fired from a high-velocity weapon to the head, face, stomach, hand and legs.
The trial continues before Ms Justice Tara Burns, presiding, sitting with Judge Sarah Berkeley and Judge Grainne Malone.