GARDAÍ HAVE begun a murder investigation after a postmortem revealed that a man found buried in a shallow grave near a housing estate had been shot in the head.
It has also emerged that the body of Lee Slattery (24), Ballynanty, Limerick city, was discovered by his father. He had been reported missing by his family on Saturday after he was last seen near his home at about midnight on Thursday.
The Irish Times understands that the Slattery family were contacted over the weekend and given information as to the whereabouts of Mr Slattery’s body.
Members of the family then went to search a wooded area known as Delmege House, off Knockalisheen Road backing on to Delmege Park in the Moyross estate. Mr Slattery’s father discovered his son’s body in a shallow grave in the area just after 2pm on Monday.
The area was immediately sealed off by gardaí and the body was left at the scene overnight.
State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy carried out a preliminary examination of the body at the scene yesterday morning before it was taken to the Mid Western Regional Hospital for a full postmortem.
That examination concluded that Mr Slattery, a father of one and one of three siblings, had been shot in the head. Garda sources said he had also sustained at least two other gunshot wounds.
The Garda Technical Bureau spent yesterday examining the murder scene and the area close to where the body was found. A semi-automatic pistol was found during searching. It has been sent for ballistic testing to establish if it is the murder weapon.
Mr Slattery was a heroin user and a suspected small-time drug dealer.
Detectives are working on the theory that he owed a well-known drug dealer from Moyross a small sum of money for drugs.
One source said it was believed the debt was “no more than a couple of thousand euros”. It is believed the money was demanded from Mr Slattery and when he was unable to pay, he was shot dead and quickly buried.
The drug dealer suspected of organising the killing is aligned to the McCarthy-Dundon gang, one of two gangs involved in the near decade-long gangland feud in Limerick that has claimed 15 lives.
Detectives suspect that two younger criminals from the Moyross area carried out the murder of Mr Slattery.
Supt John Gilligan described the killing as a “desperate crime”.
“He was a father of one child, he is obviously going to be desperately missed by his family; this is an awful way to die, a desperate act, to be left in a shallow grave after being shot. We’re determined that the ruthless criminals responsible for this will be brought to justice.”
Mr Gilligan said that while gardaí in Limerick had solved many gun murders in recent years, they needed help from the local community to solve Mr Slattery’s killing.
“There are people out there with information and we’re anxious that those people come forward, in confidence, and speak to us.”
Gardaí are speaking to the Slattery family in an effort to determine who informed them of the location of the body.
They also want to speak to anybody who may have seen or spoken to Mr Slattery by phone late on Thursday night.
They are also appealing for anybody who may have seen anything unusual in or around the Delmege House wooded area or around where Mr Slattery was last seen near his Ballynanty home on Thursday night and into Friday morning to contact them at Mayorstone Garda station on (061) 456 980.
