Two separate murder inquiries are continuing today after the discovery of the bodies of two men in Finglas and Balbriggan yesterday.
A man whose remains were found on a green space in a suburban housing estate in Finglas, west Dublin, yesterday morning, had been stabbed repeatedly in the neck and chest.
A taxi driver saw the body on a patch of grass just after 5am and alerted gardaí.
When officers went to the scene at the junction of Cardiffsbridge Road and Tolka Valley Road they found the man lying in a pool of blood. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Gardaí are working on the theory that the man had been involved in a fight in the early hours of yesterday morning, which culminated in a sustained knife attack.
The man had lost a lot of blood at the scene, and there was also blood on the road close by and on the garden wall of a house.
Gardaí are appealing for the public’s assistance in helping to confirm the man’s identity. They believe he is a 21-year-old who had had an address in Finglas but had recently been living in Navan, Co Meath.
He is described as being 5’ 8” with brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a red T-shirt, which had yellow writing across the front, the first word of which was “blue”. He was wearing dark jeans and beige laced shoes.
The victim was found dead outside the house of a common-law relative of a man found dead in a field near Balbriggan, north Co Dublin, yesterday morning. However, the two murders are not believed to be linked.
The second man found yesterday had been shot in the head in what gardaí believe was a gangland attack.
The victim has been named as Paul Smith, a 34-year-old from Dunsink Drive, Finglas, Dublin, who also had an address at Dunleer, Co Louth. His was the 14th gun murder of the year.
Mr Smith was reported missing by his family this week and a Garda search for him had begun. As part of that search gardaí went to a field in Ballough, about four miles from Balbriggan in north Co Dublin on the old Belfast road, just before midday yesterday, and found the remains. The dead man had kept horses nearby.
Garda sources said the victim had been shot in the head. They believe the murder weapon was a handgun. Gardaí believe Mr Smith was most likely shot somewhere else and his body taken to Ballough to be dumped.
Smith was known to gardaí, but his convictions were for minor matters including public disorder and criminal damage. While he was not regarded as a major gangland figure, gardaí are investigating whether his murder is linked to organised crime.