Vigilantes may have killed criminal

A PETTY criminal who died two days after being fatally stabbed and beaten in what may have been a vigilante-style attack was the father of two young boys and his widow is pregnant with their third child.

A gang chased John Cunningham after they spotted him attempting to break in to premises in Clondalkin, west Dublin.

The victim, aged 28, was a member of the settled Travelling community.

Gardai are hunting a five-man gang involved in the attack.

Two men arrested over the weekend were released without charge and a file is being prepared for the DPP.

The man was stabbed in the back.

A pool cue was used to beat him repeatedly.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell said he hopes the fatal attack was not carried out by vigilantes. He said he would be concerned at "any violence being offered."

"There is only one system of the rule of law and that's An Garda Síochána. When I say that on a political level to the Provisional movement, I say it to everyone in Irish society there is only one system of law in this country and it's the one established under the constitution."

Mr Cunningham's mother, Bridget, who has two other sons and seven daughters, yesterday said: "He was a very good boy who never said one wrong word to me in his life.

"How can people go out there and do a thing like that, kill him and leave me here with a broken heart. All I have got left is a photograph to look at and my two grandchildren and daughter-in-law, nothing else. He was my whole life, he was everything I have, everything I dreamed of."

Mr Cunningham, from Kiltilawn Way in Tallaght, was the father of two sons, aged four and 15 months. His wife of five years is three months pregnant.

He lived for two days before dying in Tallaght Hospital on Sunday.

His mother-in-law, Helen Donoghue, said: "I want his killer got ... he should suffer. (John) suffered three days and three nights fighting for his life. They are after leaving a young widow of 25 years of age and two children with no father and she's expecting a third baby. All I want to do is to get whoever killed him and make them suffer."

Although involved in the scrap metal business, the dead man was known to gardaí as a petty criminal. Detectives are trying to piece together what happened in the lead up to the fatal assault last Friday.

It is believed a group of local men spotted Mr Cunningham attempting to break into a premises on the Old Nangor Road shortly after 8pm.

He ran but was chased on foot by at least one individual while four others in a blue Mercedes and a similar coloured Nissan Micra were involved in trapping Mr Cunningham at the junction of the New Nangor Road and Fonthill Road.

Two men were arrested early on Saturday, one in connection with the assault, the other on suspicion of withholding information.

Detective Inspector Walter O'Sullivan said investigators want to speak to pedestrians, motorists or residents who may have witnessed a disturbance in the area between 8pm and 8.30pm on Friday.

Meanwhile, an 18-year-old man is recovering after being confronted by a number of people and stabbed in the Irishtown area of south Dublin early yesterday morning.

He underwent surgery at St Vincent's Hospital.

His condition is not life-threatening.