'Deliberate and callous': Jonathan Keogh guilty of Gareth Hutch murder

Jonathan Keogh, 33, fired the fatal shots that killed Mr Hutch, 36, in “a cold-blooded manner” and “had a hand in almost every aspect” of the planning of this murder, the three-judge court found.

Keogh, with an address at Gloucester Place, Dublin 1 had denied murdering Mr Hutch, who was shot dead as he was getting into his car outside Avondale House flats on North Cumberland Street in Dublin on the morning of May 24, 2016 in what the court said was not a “spontaneous or reactive killing”.

Mr Hutch, nephew of Gerry "The Monk" Hutch, died as a result of four gun shot injuries; two to the back of the neck, one to the lower back and one to the right of the upper chest.

It was the State’s case that a heated exchange took place between Jonathan Keogh and Gareth Hutch on the day prior to the shooting, that Keogh was heard expressing his intention to kill Mr Hutch later that evening and that he was one of the two gunmen responsible for the murder.

Presiding judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt, sitting with Judge Patricia Ryan and Judge Michael Walsh at the non-jury court, spent seven hours over two days reviewing the evidence that led to the guilty verdict.

Delivering the lengthy judgement following a nine-week trial which ended in July, Mr Justice Hunt said the court accepted the prosecution’s case that a considerable amount of planning and coordination had gone into this killing.

“All those that are involved in planning are guilty of the crime of murder,” he added.

Keogh wore a grey t-shirt and kept his head down as the judgment was delivered to a packed courtroom.

There was a heavy presence from the Garda Public Order Unit in the three-judge court for today’s verdict.

Giving the court's verdict today, Mr Justice Hunt said that Keogh fled to Belfast in the aftermath of the murder not because he was going to be wrongly accused of Mr Hutch's murder but because he was involved in it all along.

Finding Keogh guilty, Mr Justice Hunt said the evidence showed that it was more probable than not that Keogh committed this offence and there was enough circumstantial evidence to incriminate him even without the evidence of key prosecution witness Mary McDonnell.

Convicting Jonathan Keogh, Mr Justice Hunt said the evidence pointed “firmly and unequivocally” in the direction of Keogh being involved in this killing.

The judge said the plan to kill Mr Hutch was “in gestation” perhaps as far back as April and was certainly in place by the following month when mobile phone handsets were acquired.

Keogh gave little reaction following the guilty verdict.

Summary of the judgment

Protected witness Mary McDonnell, 45, gave evidence for several days during the trial.

She was initially arrested on suspicion of murdering Mr Hutch and later charged with withholding information. However, that charge was subsequently withdrawn and she has been given immunity from prosecution.

Mary McDonnell identified Thomas Fox and Jonathan Keogh in her evidence as the men who came into her flat the night before the shooting and wiped down two handguns.

She also insisted that Jonathan Keogh was in her flat for three hours with another man, referred to as Mr AB, on the morning Mr Hutch was shot dead.

This was despite telling the court that she had only seen part of his face as he was wearing a black balaclava.

Recounting the evidence last Friday and today, Mr Justice Hunt said the court had warned itself that it would be dangerous to convict Jonathan Keogh on the basis of Mary McDonnell’s evidence without independent corroboration because she must be regarded as an accomplice as well as a witness who had not been “entirely consistent and truthful” in her testimony.

The judge said it was necessary to approach Mary McDonnell’s evidence with “particular caution” as she had received “full immunity” in relation to any role she played in the killing.

However, he said the court was free to rely on her evidence if it was satisfied as to the truth of significant aspects of her account and if the court was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that she was correct in the evidence she gave.

“The evidence of Mary McDonnell must be considered in the light of all the evidence in the case to see how it fits in. Circumstantial evidence may supply corroboration (of her account),” he said.

The court said there were tiers of involvement in Mr Hutch’s death and it did not accept that Mary McDonnell was as guilty as anyone else.

He said the court was satisfied her evidence which identified Jonathan Keogh as one of the men who used her flat to monitor and attack Gareth Hutch was “accurate” and not something which had been prompted by gardai, as suggested by his defence.

The court did not find any reason to doubt her evidence, he remarked.

Mr Justice Hunt said Mary McDonnell led “a very limited life” which centered around her flat and her daughters, while her socialising was “limited” to Regina Keogh.

He said she would never have become involved in this of her own volition and the court did not accept she was willing to lend her assistance to a murder plot for money.

Presented by gardaí as a “reluctant and unwilling person acting under duress” was an entirely accurate characterisation of the position she was placed in, the court found.

“She should have acted differently but her circumstances were not ideal,” he said, adding that she was “steamrolled” into allowing her flat to be used by others.

The court said the independent circumstantial evidence connecting Jonathan Keogh to this crime was the “substantial overlap” between him, the mobile phone evidence and the cars involved, in particular a black BMW.

It was the prosecution's case that Jonathan Keogh and Mr AB ran to the black BMW car which was parked in Avondale House moments after the shooting at 9.56am and remained in it for a minute.

The two shooters abandoned the car when it would not start and ran out the pedestrian gates of the flat complex in the direction of Sean McDermott street and Champions Avenue where a silver Skoda Octavia was parked.

The court said that Jonathan Keogh was “clearly associated” with the BMW as his DNA profile was found on items of clothing including a balaclava and a biker’s neck warmer which had been seized from the car at the scene of the shooting.

He also played a “essential part” in bringing and moving the car to Avondale House.

The judge said that this was “powerful evidence” implicating him in the planning of Mr Hutch’s murder and it corroborated Mary McDonnell’s recognition evidence.

Keogh was also found to be connected to the murder through CCTV evidence including footage of him in Tesco with Thomas Fox, buying wipes and a bottle of Milton sterilising fluid on May 22, 2016, which was later found in Mr Fox’s Ford Transit van.

The judge said the court was satisfied Jonathan Keogh was the purchaser of these items.