Second man dies following taxi hijacking in Dublin

A second man who was injured when a hijacked taxi crashed into a lock bridge in Dublin city centre in the early hours of Monday morning died in hospital yesterday.

The man, named locally as Dylan Lacey, who was in his early 20s with an address in Ringsend in Dublin, was pronounced dead yesterday afternoon in the Mater hospital. The death follows that of Daniel Lynch, who was also in his early 20s.

A third male remained in the Mater hospital last night where his condition is understood to be serious but stable. Gardaí are hoping to interview him once his condition improves.

The crash happened at North Wall Quay at about 2.40am a short time after a Nigerian taxi driver, Matthew Adekunle Ilori, was grabbed by the neck from the back of the car and threatened that he would be knifed.

Broke free
The taxi driver managed to break free and fled from the car, which subsequently crashed less than 1km away.

President of the Irish Taxi Drivers’ Federation John Ussher said the incident had been a terrible ordeal for the taxi driver involved and had resulted in tragedy for the families of two young men. “It’s a tragedy all round,” he said.

He said taxi drivers were working in an increasingly dangerous environment. “All any taxi driver wants is to go out to work at night time, get a night’s wages and return home safe to his family but unfortunately in the present climate that is not always possible,” he said.

Mr Ussher said taxi drivers being held up with a knife or a syringe “happens on a regular basis” leading many taxi drivers to leave the business: “It’s a terrifying experience for a taxi driver,” he said.

“There isn’t a week goes by where there’s some incident where a taxi driver is held up for money and taxi drivers aren’t earning much these days so someone might hold you up for €50 or €60.”

He added that a car-jacking, while a rarer occurrence, resulted in a taxi driver losing his livelihood, and noted that taxi drivers have no automatic entitlement to social welfare payments because they are self-employed.

Gardaí are investigating the circumstances leading up to the crash and are appealing for witnesses to contact Store Street Garda station on 01 6668000.