Gardaí believe a pipe-bomb attack on a house in Dublin may be linked to a feud in the north inner city, sparked after a leading gang member raped a young local woman.
The pipe bomb exploded under a car in the driveway of a house on Ratoath Drive, Finglas, at 11pm on Sunday.
A couple and their four children were in the house at the time but were uninjured in the blast. However, pieces of the pipe in which the bomb was contained damaged a house across the road.
The bomb had been placed under the front left wheel of the family's Toyota Corolla car, which was parked outside the house.
Garda sources said the six occupants of the car were not the intended victims. They believe whoever placed the device intended to target another man from the area.
This man is closely aligned to some of the criminals who have been engaged in a bitter feud in the Sheriff Street area of the Dublin's north inner city. However, gardaí have not completely ruled out the possibility that Sunday's attack may be linked to local gangland tensions in Finglas.
Gardaí have been expecting an escalation in the north inner city feud since leading gang member Christie Griffin was jailed for life for the rape of his partner's young daughter.
Griffin (37), Ridgewood Green, Swords, and formerly of Canon Lillis Avenue, in the north inner city, was found guilty by a jury on January 18th of 11 counts of rape and sexual assault. He was jailed for life last month at the Central Criminal Court.
He had begun to sexually abuse his victim when she was just eight. The abuse continued for eight years.
After the victim reported the abuse to gardaí, her mother, who has stood by Griffin, rejected her. Two factions then formed, one around Griffin, who has been linked to members of the IRA in Dublin, and one around the victim's family. These factions have been engaged in a very serious feud for the past number of years.
Armed gardaí are conducting high visibility patrols in the Sheriff Street area in a bid to deter the rival gangs from attacking each other. Gardaí have drawn up a list of 32 men, 16 on each side of the feud, who they believe are in danger of being shot soon. The feud has already resulted in a number of shooting and grenade attacks, which have cost two men their lives. Among the feud-related incidents to date have been:
On December 27th last Stephen Ledden (28) was shot in the head at Oriel Street, Dublin. He was shot by mistake by killers targeting another man thought to be behind a feud-related murder two weeks earlier.
Criminal Gerard Batt Byrne (25), of Ferryman's Crossing, Dublin, was shot dead in the IFSC on December 13th. He was believed to be behind a number of feud-related property attacks.
In November 2006 a hand grenade was thrown into Griffin's home in Swords and exploded. In the same month another grenade was thrown into a relative's house but failed to detonate.
In an attack last year a house linked to Griffin's rape victim was fired on. Just minutes later a second home was shot at, also in the north inner city.
In October 2005 a number of shots were fired into Griffin's home in Swords, wounding him in the arm.
Griffin, a drug dealer and armed robber, has been a target for years of the Garda's Dublin North Central Drugs Unit. The Criminal Assets Bureau also confiscated two of his houses. He was first put on trial 12 months ago but the jury failed to agree a verdict. The jury felt so intimidated by some people in the public gallery that they requested armed Garda protection. Armed gardaí also policed the most recent trial.
