A 41-year-old man has gone on trial accused of helping an organised crime gang murder a father of four at his home in Dublin seven years ago.
Noel Kirwan, 62, was shot six times in a case of mistaken identity as part of the Hutch-Kinahan feud, as he sat in his car in the driveway of his home at St Ronan’s Drive in Clondalkin on 22 December 2016.
Michael Crotty, with an address at Slí Aonghusa, Aras na Rí, Cashel, Co Tipperary has pleaded not guilty to participating in the activities of an organised crime gang that facilitated the murder.
The prosecution claims he topped up the mobile credit on one of the phones used in the murder the day before the fatal shooting.
The court will hear submissions from media organisations tomorrow seeking to have reporting restrictions lifted to allow for the naming of one of the other alleged participants in the murder.
The Special Criminal Court heard today that Mr Crotty has no previous convictions and has denied helping an organised crime group by facilitating the murder of Mr Kirwan.
The court heard Mr Kirwan was mistakenly thought to have been connected to the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in February 2016, which escalated the ongoing Hutch-Kinahan feud.
A tracker device had been placed on Mr Kirwan’s car, which was monitored from an apartment in the Beacon South Quarter in Sandyford, south Dublin.
The DNA of the senior figure in the Kinahan organised crime group, Declan Brady, was found on a toothbrush there.
Brady, who was known as ‘Mr Nobody’, has already pleaded guilty to this offence, as has another Kinahan gang member, Martin Alymer.
Mobile phones
Three unregistered prepaid mobile phones were used in the murder of Mr Kirwan.
The prosecution has said that Mr Crotty topped up one of those phones the day before the murder on 21 December 2016.
It said that Mr Crotty bought that credit at a Spar shop in Naas that day knowing or being reckless that it would be used in a serious crime.
Mr Crotty was arrested and questioned and while his defence counsel has insisted he engaged extensively with gardaí, the prosecution said that the three judges will be entitled to draw inferences from his silence on the key issue.
The court has directed the media not to name the person referred to in court today as AB or report his alleged activities, but RTÉ, the Irish Times and Mediahaus gave notice of their intention to seek to have the reporting restrictions lifted.
Ms Justice Caroline Biggs asked that documents and legal authorities be submitted by tomorrow when she will hear the application seeking to have AB named in court, identified in the media and his alleged activities reported.
