Gardaí seek pub customers who last saw murder victim alive
The dead man was yesterday named as Charles Merriman, 26, from Constitution Hill in the Broadstone area of the north inner city. The father of a nine-year-old daughter was shot in the back of the skull with a single shotgun blast. His attackers killed him close to the location where his body was found at the side of a road in Ballymun.
The grim discovery was made by a couple of American tourists out driving with relatives who spotted Merriman's body at the entrance to a field on St Margaret's Road at around midday on Sunday.
The dead man worked as manager of a young Dublin band, No Angels a group of teenage street buskers who received nationwide publicity following the release of their version of the Beatles' number Help, last summer.
Merriman spent the early part of Saturday evening watching the band perform a gig at the Stoney Inn in Stoneybatter.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, he drove to the Penthouse pub in Ballymun, where he met a number of people.
Gardaí are anxious to trace anyone who may have seen him in the pub, as they are still unclear about what happened Merriman after he left the premises. When last seen he was wearing blue jeans and a sweater. Described as 6ft tall of stocky build with a shaven head, Merriman is also likely to have stood out in a crowd.
Sources admit that the precise motive for the murder has still to be determined, although it is believed to be related to a possible feud between criminal gangs in the city. Although officially keeping an open mind on the reason for the crime, gardaí believe it is linked to a series of unreported tit-for-tat attacks and assaults since Christmas by members of two gangs involved in the city's cocaine and heroin trade.
The dead man was known to gardaí as a result of his links with a Ballymun-based gang suspected of involvement in drug-dealing.
Detectives from Finglas have also appealed for help from motorists who may have passed St Margaret's Road in the early hours of Sunday morning. It is believed that Merriman's body may have been left at the site for several hours before gardaí were alerted. Garda sources indicated that it was possible several people may have seen the body earlier but mistakenly believed that the victim might have been drunk.
The scene of the killing remained closed off to traffic for several hours yesterday as Gardaí continued with a forensic examination of the area.
