Up to 70 gardai were yesterday involved in the investigation into Monday's attack on two brothers in their 80s in their rural home in Co Meath, which led to the death of one of them and left the other in hospital.
Gardai conducted house-to-house inquiries around the brothers' house near the village of Castlejordan, on the Meath-Offaly border. Checkpoints were set up on approach roads to the village from Enfield and Kinnegad.
Insp John Dunleavy said the investigation was being carried out with the same intensity as a murder hunt. "There is shock and deep sadness at what has happened. It's a very close-knit community. Everybody is on first-name terms with everybody else and this has certainly knocked them." Mr Paddy Logan (81) died after being beaten with a sweeping brush during the attack in his kitchen on Monday afternoon. His brother, Mr Peter Logan (83), who stopped a passing car to call for help, was in a stable condition in Tullamore General Hospital last night.
The men were listening to the Laois-Westmeath GAA match on their radio when two men believed to be in their 20s walked in and inquired about the score. They then demanded money.
It is understood that the intruders, who did not have their faces covered and were described as having "funny accents", beat both men severely with the handle of a sweeping brush before making off with £45. The broken brush handle was found at the scene. All day yesterday a team of gardai from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Garda Technical Bureau, and the Laois/Offaly Divisional Search Team combed the long grass around the stone cottage where the bachelor farmers had lived all their lives.
Insp Dunleavy appealed for information from anyone who had seen any vehicles or who had seen anyone acting suspiciously in the Castlejordan area at about 4 p.m. on Monday or on previous days to contact the investigation team, which is led by Supt Peter Wheeler. A special incident room has been set up at Edenderry Garda station, which can be contacted at 0405-31290.
The Garda is awaiting the results of a post-mortem examination carried out by the State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, at Tullamore General Hospital. Preliminary results indicated that Mr Logan died of a heart attack after he was attacked and beaten. Fresh flowers were laid yesterday at the foot of the grassy laneway leading through a field to the brothers' house. There was no message. Local people said no words could describe the deep shock felt in the village.
Ms Caroline Kearney, a neighbour and one of the first people on the scene, said other elderly people who were living alone in the area were terrified. She said her three children, ranging in age from five to 14, had all slept in one single bed last night because they were so afraid.
She described seeing Mr Peter Logan standing at his gate with his face covered in blood. "He said `Paddy's dead, Paddy's dead'. I never thought for one moment he had been attacked. I assumed he had got a heart attack or something and that poor Peter had got such a fright that he fell coming down the lane," she said.
"As he walked up towards the house he started to say `they killed Paddy, they killed Paddy.' I thought he was just raving and in a state of shock. I couldn't believe it when I saw the body lying on the kitchen floor. There was a lot of blood around the head." She said Peter complained about terrible pains in his back before he was taken away by ambulance. There was blood all over his face. "People locally are devastated. There are an awful lot of men around here living alone and they are terrified." "You could not meet nicer, they were inoffensive," Mr Pat Cooney, a local man, said. He said they did everything together. Paddy was making rice for Peter when their attackers barged in. Paddy also drove them to town and they herded their sheep and cattle together and could be seen on spring nights walking by torchlight through the fields checking for newborn lambs.
"They were actually as good as vets. They knew everything about sheep and cattle," he said.
Another man, who did not want to be named, said the community was sickened and could not understand the mentality of the attackers, who were reported to be seen walking up to the house minutes before the incident. "People would call them animals, but any animals I have come in contact with are usually kind to humans," he said.
The brothers foiled an attempted raid on their home last January with a legally held shotgun, but it is believed they were caught off guard on Monday and did not have enough time to take out the weapon.
Mr Logan's body was taken last night from Tullamore General Hospital to Larkin's funeral home in Edenderry. The removal will take place at 7.30 p.m. tonight to the church in Castlejordan. Burial in the local cemetery will follow 11 a.m. Mass tomorrow.