Witness tells Regency trial of moment men dressed as gardai started shooting

A man dressed as a woman fired shots inside the Regency Hotel in Dublin on 5 February 2016, the Special Criminal Court heard on the second day of the trial of Patrick Hutch, charged with the murder of David Byrne. Witnesses described the attackers' arrival disguised as gardaí, with one person wearing a blonde wig and the other a cap. A boxing weigh-in was underway when shooting began. Mel Christie, former president of the Boxing Union of Ireland, told the court that initial gunfire caused panic before two men dressed as police entered the room. He said one of these men then opened fire on a person in the crowd. Other witnesses corroborated accounts of the gunman in the wig and the shooter disguised as a garda. The accused, aged twenty-five, denies murder and denies possessing three AK47 assault rifles in connection with the fatal shooting.