Regency trial: State witness Jonathan Dowdall may not take the stand before Christmas over witness protection application status
State witness Jonathan Dowdall now might not get to take the stand before Christmas due to questions about the status of his witness protection application.Ms Justice Tara Burns presiding expressed concern that “we may not have Mr Dowdall before Christmas” due to a question mark over the status of his witness protection application.
However Prosecuting Counsel Sean Gillane told the court that he had made efforts to find out what the status of Dowdall’s application was, but he did not yet have an answer. Mr Grehan also claimed the former Sinn Fein councilor had the “power in the relationship” in terms of him imparting information to gardai.
He said that given the “absence of transparency” the court is “being kept in the dark”in relation to how that came about. He said he simply doesn’t accept the contention that the meeting could not be recorded just because it was confidential. Mr Grehan also took issue with how an account by Jonathan Dowdall to gardai about meeting Gerry Hutch ‘evolved’ over the course of the conversation.
Critically, he said, at all stages, these notes were never taken ownership of by Mr Dowdall - and this “renders them virtually useless” in terms of cross examining him. Leaving all that to one side Mr Grehan said it suggests that there seemed to be a “lack of urgency” with gardai in getting back to Dowdall for reasons which suggest they had a “disinterest” in what he had to say.
Mr Grehan said Dowdall was being “cagey” and despite normal practice where a person who makes a statement takes ownership of it by reading it out to gardai - that didn’t happen. Dowdall had said he was “disgusted” and “ashamed” of himself and how he was acting and what he was saying on the tapes.The defence counsel said the significance of this is the eight page document is the only document gardai had to produce to the DPP “in terms of the original basis for bringing a murder charge against Mr Dowdall.
In a further meeting with Dowdall on July 4, gardai again did not record it, Mr Grehan said - and again on July 12 they didn’t.
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