A crowd outside the Regency Hotel in Dublin was "extremely hostile" and offered no information to a garda who had arrived on the scene after a fatal shooting there, the Special Criminal Court has heard.
The shooting had happened, the court has previously heard, during a boxing weigh-in at the hotel. A man dressed as a woman and another wearing a flat cap, armed with handguns, followed by three people dressed in tactical-style garda uniforms and carrying assault rifles, raided the venue.
CCTV footage has been played to the court of two of the men in fake garda uniforms shooting David Byrne (34) as he was fleeing the scene.
It is the prosecution's case that Patrick Hutch (25) was the man dressed as a woman and that he did not shoot Mr Byrne but was part of a "shared intention" to commit the offence.
Mr Hutch, of Champions Avenue, Dublin 1, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Byrne at the Regency Hotel in Dublin on February 5th, 2016.
He also denied possessing three AK47 assault rifles in connection with the fatal shooting.
The court heard evidence on Tuesday from gardaí who arrived at the scene after responding to calls about an “incident developing at the Regency Hotel”.
Garda Finbar Fleming told Sean Gillane SC, prosecuting, that a group of about 20 to 30 people was gathered in a carpark outside a Centra shop beside the hotel.
“They were quite irate and upset,” the garda said.
The court heard that Gda Fleming tried to ascertain what had happened, but the crowd was “extremely hostile” toward him and did not offer “any information whatsoever”.
Hostility
Earlier, Sergeant Noel Nolan had told the court that some of those gathered outside the hotel were “very agitated” and “showing hostility”.
He said he saw an injured man with “blood coming from his stomach” and asked him what had happened.
“Basically, we were told where to go,” the sergeant said, “and given no information.”
The court also heard evidence related to three assault rifles which the prosecution allege were used in the shooting.
Detective Sergeant Pádraig Boyce, of the Special Detective Unit, told the court that on March 9th, 2016, while investigating the movement of weapons by the IRA, gardaí stopped a grey Vauxhall van outside Slane, on the N2, in Meath.
The court heard in the back of the van, “partly concealed”, there were three AK47 assault rifles and three magazine clips loaded with ammunition.
The weapons were inside white canvas bags, with two of the firearms wrapped in shirts, the court heard.
Detective Garda David O’Leary, of the Garda Technical Bureau’s ballistics section, told Mr Gillane he examined a number of discharged cartridge cases found in the hotel after the shooting, comparing the cartridges with the weapons found in the van.
The court heard the detective formed the opinion the cartridges had been fired from the rifles found in the van in Meath.
Concluding the day’s testimony, Mr Gillane read into evidence a statement from assistant state pathologist Dr Michael Curtis.
The court heard Mr Byrne had died as a result of six gunshots, fired from a high-velocity weapon, to the face, stomach, hand and legs.
The wounds were “rapidly if not instantaneously fatal”, Dr Curtis concluded.
Earlier, Sergeant Martin Halpin had told the court on the day of the fatal shooting he saw a burnt-out van in Charlemont Estate, in Drumcondra.
The trial was adjourned until Wednesday.