GARDAÍ SEALED off five houses last night and launched a murder inquiry in Limerick after the body of a man was found outside a house in the city with several stab wounds.
Ger McMahon (43), known locally as Ger Troy, from Raheen Square, Limerick, was found on the steps of a house at Lenihan Avenue, Prospect, at about 12.30am by an ambulance crew.
The paramedics tried to save Mr McMahon’s life but he was pronounced dead at about 1am yesterday at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick.
A postmortem was being conducted at the hospital last night by the State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy.
Mr McMahon was known to gardaí and had appeared in court in Limerick on a number of burglary charges in recent years.
It is believed he may have been stabbed in the back and had been trying to raise the alarm at the house he was found lying outside.
However, detectives investigating his murder were still looking for a motive for the killing.
“We are following a number of lines of inquiry,” said Supt John Scanlon from Roxboro Road Garda station, who is heading the murder inquiry.
He added: “We are getting huge support from the local community and we thank them for that. If anyone out there has any kind of information – no matter how insignificant they might think it is – we would like to hear from them. We are keeping an open mind as to the motive.”
Gardaí were called to the scene by ambulance personnel at about 12.40am yesterday and immediately sealed off both entrances to Lenihan Avenue.
It is understood a number of scenes were being examined last night by officers from the Garda Forensic Unit who travelled to Limerick from Dublin yesterday.
A senior Garda source confirmed officers had obtained search warrants from the District Court yesterday to search a number of houses close to the scene.
The warrants, obtained under section 10 of the Criminal Justice Act, allow gardaí to enter dwellings to search for evidence following a serious crime.
The houses are located on Lenihan Avenue and Hyde Road, which is located close to where Mr McMahon was found.
“We are also gathering CCTV footage from cameras around the area and that will take a while to go through.
“House-to-house inquiries are also continuing in the Prospect and Ballinacurra Weston areas of the city,” a Garda spokesman added.
Anybody with information on the incident is asked to contact the Garda in confidence at Roxboro Road, Limerick, on 061-214340 or the Garda Confidential Hotline – 1800-666-111.