Second man arrested in connection with fatal stabbing in Tallaght

Gardaí investigating the fatal stabbing of a man at a house in Tallaght, Dublin on Monday night have arrested second man.

A teenager who was arrested at the scene of the killing remains in custody.

While the teenage suspect was known to the dead man, they were not related. The Garda inquiry is now focused on trying to establish if they had come into conflict with each other in the past and, if so, the possible reasons for any dispute.

Detectives were hopeful other people who lived in the house at Castle Park with the victim will be in a position to provide vital information about the fatal stabbing and the events that led up to it on Monday night.

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The dead man has been named locally as Ionel Nicolae Diaconu (45). He is believed to have earlier this year moved into the house where he was stabbed at about 9.30pm on Monday.

However, others he was living with, including his partner, have resided at the property, on a local authority estate, for a much longer period. The dead man had come to the attention of gardaí in the Tallaght area since moving there.

Detectives believe Mr Diaconu was stabbed repeatedly in the upper body. While the emergency services were quickly alerted and paramedics tried to save the victim, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The investigation into the killing was being carried out by gardaí from Tallaght Garda station, with gardaí confirming in a statement they were alerted to the incident just before 9pm.

A postmortem was carried out on Tuesday by State Pathologist, Dr Linda Mulligan, the results of which are not being released for operational reasons.

“An adult male who was arrested at the scene remains detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 at a Garda station in the Dublin Region,” a Garda statement said.

“A second adult male was arrested earlier today, Tuesday, 12th December 2023 as part of this investigation. He is currently detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 at a Garda station in the Dublin region.”

John Donohoe (81) who has lived across from the house, now declared a crime scene, for more than 50 years, said the killing was a “big shock”.

“I didn’t really know what was happening… We haven’t seen police around here in ages, then there were 20 or 30 of them here last night, we never seen the police come so quick,” he said.

The area would normally be “very quiet”, with most neighbours living in the estate for many years, Mr Donohoe said.

“When the trees are in bloom it’s one of the nicest places you could ever live,” he said.

He said he believed the man who was fatally stabbed had moved into the house in question in recent months.

Another man who lived nearby in Castle Park said on Monday night people did not know “what was going on,” when a large number of gardaí arrived on the scene. There was “no commotion” but a large number of Garda cars, he said.

The residential area would normally be considered quiet and settled, he said.

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