A senior garda said yesterday that he is appalled by the extent of the brutality used in the murder of Ennis hackney driver Liam Moloney (56).
Supt John Kerin described the death of Mr Moloney as "horrific" and the circumstances in which a family were left without a father as "quite appalling".
"This type of crime is not common to Co Clare and people are outraged by it. We are appalled by the extent of the brutality involved," he said.
A preliminary post-mortem examination by the Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Michael Curtis, is understood to have found that Mr Moloney of Barrack Close, Ennis, suffered extensive head injuries, including a knife wound to the throat.
Supt Kerin said yesterday: "In the interests of the investigation, I'm not prepared to go into detail at this point on extent of injuries inflicted. I can say that I am satisfied that a knife-like object was used in the attack on Mr Moloney."
He described Mr Moloney as a "hard-working, honest man and was only known to gardaí in a favourable light. He was a very popular figure around Ennis and well-liked".
"It is very sad to think that a man going about his business can be killed in such a manner."
The separated father of four sons took early retirement from Aer Lingus at Shannon Airport, where he worked as an operations manager.
The president of the Irish Taxi Federation, Mr John Ussher, said taxi and hackney drivers in the Ennis area are now afraid to go out to work. "Every taxi-driver is in fear in Ennis, because the person or persons who did this are still out there.
"Two previous murders of taxi-drivers in Galway and Limerick remain unsolved, so I would be urging members to co-operate with the gardaí in any way they can," he said.
Offering his sympathy to the Moloney family, Mr Ussher said: "It is a terrible thing to go out for work and not come back."
The chairman of the Ennis Taxi Federation, Mr Martin White, yesterday offered his condolences to the Moloney family and said it was an awful thing to happen and that "every taxi and hackney driver is worried sick about going out until this killer or killers are caught".
Mr Moloney's body was dumped in a field at Porthouse by his killer a short distance from the village of Ruan on Friday night, six miles from Ennis.
Mr Moloney's wine-coloured Mazda 626 was subsequently abandoned by his killer near Considine's pub in Barefield sometime before 9.50 p.m., some seven miles away.
As part of the Garda investigation, it emerged yesterday that four or five passing motorists may have seen the killer without knowing it on Friday night near Ruan.
Supt Kerin said four or five different people on Friday night saw a car at the entrance to Porthouse with its lights on and an individual standing at the side of the car. One person believed they saw a man talking on a mobile phone.
Supt Kerin said that Mr Moloney's last recorded fare was to Clarecastle at 7.14 p.m. on Friday night and he appealed for the individual or individuals who took the cab at Ennis Cabs in Market Street, Ennis, to come forward to allow them to be eliminated from the Garda investigation.
Supt Kerin added that mobile-phone companies are helping to pinpoint mobile-phone activity last Friday night in the Ruan-Barefield area.
Supt Kerin said that gardaí are also appealing for witnesses in the Barefield area to come forward if they witnessed any suspicious activity in the village on Friday night prior to 9.50 p.m.
