Gardaí were last night examining links between an earlier burglary in Rialto, Dublin, and the death of a 23-year-old man, who was stabbed when he disturbed a burglar in the early hours of yesterday morning.
The man, who has yet to be named, was from China but had been living in Ireland for the past 2½ years and worked as a kitchen porter.
He was found in the house, which he shared with between five and six other Chinese people, on Reuben Avenue, Rialto, at about 5am.
It is believed he was stabbed with a knife after he was woken by the sound of his female flatmate screaming. He confronted an intruder on the upstairs landing as the man was coming out of his flatmate's room and was stabbed in the chest. He was removed to St James's Hospital, but pronounced dead there.
His attacker is described by gardaí as approximately 1.73m (5ft 8in), with dark hair with a blond fringe. He is in his mid-20s and is thought to be Irish.
Gardaí later recovered a knife at the scene, which is now being examined. A postmortem conducted by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis confirmed that the man died as a result of stab wounds.
Ihab Abou-Alfa, who lives in an apartment in a house behind the murdered man's residence, told The Irish Times he was confronted by a man shining a torch in his room at around 3.30am yesterday. Mr Abou-Alfa, originally from Egypt but living on the South Circular Road for four years, said he screamed at the man, who then "flew out the front door".
When he returned to his room, he found a hammer beside his bed. Mr Abou-Alfa said he later noticed that a chef's kitchen knife which he had placed in the kitchen drawer was missing. He then found the empty box which had contained the knife in his sitting room. "I'm very lucky," he said. "My neighbours woke up to find the guards in the house. They are all very shocked."
The Garda Press Office said it could not comment on Mr Abou-Alfa's claim that a knife had been taken from his flat. It added that the murder was the subject of an ongoing investigation. Mr Abou-Alfa's house, along with the home of the deceased man, were yesterday sealed off by gardaí.
One Garda source acknowledged that there have been some problems with cocaine use in the area, with several known drug addicts living there. The area is generally quiet, with a mix of older residents and younger people, particularly from newer communities, who have moved there in recent years.
There had been a spate of robberies before Christmas, for which a number of individuals were facing criminal proceedings.
Matthew Dunne (79), who lives opposite the dead man's house on Reuben Avenue, described how he was woken up at 5am by loud screaming coming from a woman in the house.
When his wife went to investigate, she saw that the lights in the house were on and the front door was wide open.