Man shot dead in front of partner and child

A MOTHER and toddler watched in horror as gunmen blasted a young father to death in the bed where the three lay sleeping in the early hours of yesterday morning.

It is feared the murder of Paul Cunningham, 23, will further escalate gangland attacks in west Dublin, which has been the scene of a series of violent incidents in recent days.

Cunningham, from Dromheath Avenue, Ladys-well, Mulhuddart, was shot at least twice in the chest by one of two men who broke into his local authority home through a back door at around 3am and searched the house until they found the room where he was sleeping with his partner and their 18-month-old child.

He was rushed to James Connolly Memorial Hospital in Blanchardstown but was pronounced dead a short time later. A post-mortem examination was under way last night and the house was sealed off while garda forensic experts studied the scene.

The dead man’s shocked partner was able to provide only a limited description of the gunmen who covered their faces before the attack, but one is believed to be about six feet one inch tall while the other was approximately five feet nine.

Gardaí believe they left the house on foot and possibly escaped across a green area to the rear of the avenue but it is thought likely they had a car waiting in the vicinity to take them away from the scene.

Cunningham’s death is being linked to that of the Finglas criminal, Declan Curran, who died of a suspected heart attack a week ago while on remand in Cloverhill Prison following his arrest in connection with a bank robbery.

In the days that followed, a brother of a man suspected of seriously injuring Curran in a shooting incident six years ago was shot and injured while the home of a man Curran had been charged with shooting dead last year was attacked and petrol-bombed.

Cunningham, the fifth of eight children, was well known to gardaí after a life of petty crime which left him with over a dozen previous convictions, mainly for theft, but he was also suspected of more serious offences including armed robbery and drug-dealing.

The Cunningham family has a troubled history and had already lost two older sons; David, who died in 1997 in a stabbing incident, and Gary, who was one of three youths killed when their stolen car crashed in 1995.

The family was once saved from eviction from their local authority home after the public raised almost €9,000 in response to an appeal on the Gay Byrne radio show to pay off their rent arrears.

The murder was the second in Dublin over the weekend. In the early hours of Saturday morning a Lithuanian man was stabbed to death at St Joseph’s Villas in the north inner city.

The name of the victim, who was in his late 20s, was being withheld yesterday while gardaí tracked down his family. A 22-year-old man arrested in Mullingar on Saturday night is due to appear in court this morning on charges connected with the incident.

In another stabbing incident, a 20-year-old man was injured when he was attacked on the street in the Old Bawn area of Tallaght shortly before 3am yesterday morning.

Two men stabbed outside a nightclub in Mullingar shortly after 2am were also recovering from their injuries, while a man was being treated for gunshot wounds after a shooting at Dunsink Lane, Finglas, yesterday afternoon. Three people arrested after the incident were being questioned by gardaí last night.