GARDAÍ BELIEVE they know the identity of the man who fatally stabbed Warren O’Connor in north Dublin last Saturday.
Mr O’Connor (24) was stabbed after he went with three friends to complain about noise coming from a party at an apartment in Donaghmede, Dublin.
Gardaí also believe they know the identities of the two men who were with the killer at the time. They believe that all three are from Coolock.
They have spoken to some people who attended the party at the Grattan Wood development, Hole in the Wall road.
The family of Mr O’Connor, who are from Coolock, yesterday spoke of their upset at the circumstances of his death.
“He didn’t deserve to die like that. All he ever did was help people,” his mother Tina told RTÉ News. “I wanted to see him, to hold him, but I couldn’t. For forensic [reasons].”
Parishioners in Mr O’Connor’s parish of Priorswood were “very upset and very fearful”, said local priest Fr Bryan Shortall. He described it as a “body blow for the whole area” as Mr O’Connor was a young man “with his whole life ahead of him” who was “tragically, senselessly and cruelly cut down”.
The former Defence Forces member had planned to join the Fire Brigade. He played soccer and last summer had transferred from Coolock Town to play centre half for Killester United.
“He was a big guy, a nice guy, really friendly and got on well with everyone,” Joey Graydon, manager at Killester United, told RTÉ Radio One yesterday. “I never heard Warren say a bad word about anybody.” He was the kind of person that would go and help someone but would “never look for trouble”, Mr Graydon added.
Local Labour councillor Killian Forde said he was “well known and liked” and was a “good guy” .
Local Fianna Fáil councillor Tom Brabazon said there was absolute “shock and horror” at the death of Mr O’Connor in such a “brutal and obviously premeditated way”.
There had been a different reaction locally to the fatal shooting of Noel Deans on Saturday as there was a “certain perception” of him in the area, Mr Brabazon said. Mr Forde said local people were “conditioned” to shootings.
Mr Deans (27) had been shot as he walked from the pub. He had spent most of his life in child detention centres and adult prison.
Dublin North-East Labour TD Tommy Broughan said the murders were an indication that “the culture of violence and thuggery is a growing problem in parts of Dublin”. Local people were “outraged by the attacks”, he said.
Fine Gael justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan said there was a “grave and extremely worrying surge in crime”.
The gangland legislation introduced last year was not being matched by political will and resources and “gangs are now stronger than ever”, he said.
He urged the Minister for Justice to introduce a mandatory 25-year sentence for murder, to fill vacancies at the upper level of the Garda and place 24-hour surveillance on gangland leaders.
A man (46) continued to be questioned last evening in relation to the murder of Stephen O’Meara, whose body was found on Christmas Eve. He was arrested by gardaí in Wicklow on Sunday. He was being held at Wicklow Garda station under section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007.
Mr O’Meara disappeared on August 6th near his home in Wicklow town.