A MAN killed in a gun attack when his caravan on a north Dublin halting site was sprayed with bullets, died from wounds to the stomach and chest, the postmortem examination on his remains has found.
Gardaí are still trying to determine exactly why 49-year-old married father Tom McDonagh was killed. They believe he owed money to a west Dublin crime gang and are trying to establish if his failure to pay that debt may have led to his murder. However, Garda sources emphasised while Mr McDonagh, who was a Traveller, was known to them he was not regarded as a major criminal figure.
Gardaí have spoken to the dead man’s family and friends in an effort to determine if they knew of any reason why somebody would want to kill him.
Mr McDonagh died when he went to answer a knock on the door of his caravan just before 10pm on Saturday on the St Margaret’s halting site, St Margaret’s Road, Ballymun, north Dublin.
The gunman and an accomplice had pulled up in a 4X4 outside the caravan. When they saw Mr McDonagh walking to the door they opened fire, shooting him through the caravan door and walls, both of which were left riddled with bullet holes.
The murder weapon was a semi-automatic pistol and up to 20 shots were fired.
Mr McDonagh’s wife was away for the weekend and his adult children were not with their father when he was shot. However, one of his sons lives in the caravan next to his parents and rushed into his father’s caravan on hearing the gunfire. The killer and his accomplice dumped their Nissan Qashqai at the Mayeston Lawn apartment blocks, about one kilometre from the crime scene, where they set it on fire.
They then fled on foot through nearby bushes and over a fence onto the side of the M50 southbound carriageway near the Finglas exit where they were collected by another vehicle.
Gardaí want to speak to anybody who was on the halting site around the time of the killing or who may have seen the men burning out the Nissan Qashqai at the Mayeston apartments. They also want to talk to any motorists who may have seen pedestrian activity on the side of the M50 southbound near the Finglas exit at about 10pm on Saturday.
