Two teens still held over Inchicore stabbing

TWO teenagers were still being questioned last night in connection with the murder of 19-year-old David Byrne.

Mr Byrne was fatally stabbed in Inchicore, south Dublin, on Saturday night after being chased by a gang of four hooded youths from nearby Drimnagh.

Gardaí suspect that while all four were involved in the murder, two are suspected of carrying it out.

Gardaí identified four suspects from CCTV cameras in the area and arrested them on Tuesday.

They were detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act on suspicion of murder. This act allows for a maximum period of detention of 48 hours.

Three other people — two of them aged just 13 — were also arrested and questioned on suspicion of withholding information in relation to the murder.

They were held under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, which allows for a maximum detention period of three days on application to the courts. Two of them were released on Wednesday. An eighth teenager was arrested on suspicion of withholding information on Wednesday.

Just two were still in custody last night, after gardaí released five others. Of the eight arrested three are females.

Gardaí will now start preparing a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions on the investigation.

As reported in the Irish Examiner on Tuesday, gardaí were able to identify their four suspects from CCTV camera footage in Drimnagh before and after the murder.

The four were seen in the footage chasing Mr Byrne over a footbridge into Inchicore after 10pm on Saturday and again coming back over.

They were then caught on cameras outside a takeaway on nearby Benbulbin Road where their faces were not covered.

These cameras, unknown to the killers, were installed after the double murder of two Polish men on Benbulbin Road in February 2008 by local teenagers.

Gardaí believe the murder was the result of an internal falling out among a group of friends who were dealing drugs in the area.

Mr Byrne, from Davitt House flats in Drimnagh, is thought to have owed the gang €7,000 and is also thought to have lost 3kgs of cannabis.

He died after receiving four severe knife wounds to his back and kidneys.

Gardaí carried out extensive searches in the area for the murder weapons and have taken a number of knives found away for forensic and DNA tests.