Husband may cast light on his wife's actions

Gardaí are today hoping to interview Brian Keegan in a bid to try and piece together the reasons why his wife Mary killed the couple's two young sons and then took her own life at their home in south Dublin over the weekend.

Senior Garda sources last night told The Irish Times their investigation into the apparent double murder and suicide at the Keegan family home at Killakee Walk, Firhouse, had as of yet failed to identify any clear motive.

Officers have already spoken to Mr Keegan informally since the remains of his two sons - Glen (9) and Andrew (5) - and his 41-year-old wife were found at about 11.30am on Monday.

However, detectives are hoping they can speak to Mr Keegan at length as early as today, in the hope that he may be able to shed some light on the events of recent days. He has been comforted by family and friends over the last 48 hours.

Mr Keegan was on a week-long business trip to a trade fair in the United States when his wife and children died at some point over the weekend in a knife attack. He works as an engineer with the technical support unit of a Dún Laoghaire lawnmower firm.

When he arrived at the family home just before midday on Monday, gardaí had just been alerted by a concerned relative, and the bodies of Mrs Keegan and her boys had been discovered.

While gardaí were investigating reports that Mrs Keegan was feeling down of late, senior officers insisted there was no evidence that she had been treated for any psychiatric illness.

They are hopeful Mr Keegan may be able to tell them about any problems which might have existed that only somebody in the immediate family would know about. However, gardaí said nothing of this nature had become apparent.

As the community in Firhouse began coming to terms yesterday with what had taken place, Garda forensic experts carried out a major examination of the Keegan family home. A number of items, including knives, have been taken from the semi-detached property.

Gardaí believe both boys were stabbed repeatedly by their mother in the kitchen of the house, where the bodies were found. They believe Mrs Keegan then wounded herself a number of times with a knife and most likely bled to death as a result of wounds to her arms.

The bodies of the three deceased were removed from the house after 6pm on Monday evening. They were taken to Tallaght Hospital where the Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis performed postmortems yesterday.