Man found on bloody patio died from assault

A POSTMORTEM on the body of a man found lying in a pool of blood in a house in Cork has confirmed that he died a violent death as a result of an assault.

It came as gardaí in Dublin investigating the murder of crime boss Michael Kelly said there was “a bucket” of gangs who were possible suspects.

In Cork, gardaí stressed last night they are not conducting a murder inquiry into the death of Don Geasley, 42, whose body was found lying on the patio at the rear of his rested two-storey house at 9 Lower Masseytown, near Macroom town centre in Co Cork, on Thursday morning.

But they said the investigation team has all the resources at its disposal as would be available to a murder inquiry.

The postmortem, conducted by assistant state pathologist, Dr Margaret Bolster at Cork University Hospital (CUH) yesterday, established that Mr Geasley had suffered several injuries to the body during some form of assault, and had died as a result of those injuries.

Officers from the Garda Technical Bureau attended the postmortem.

They then returned to Macroom and conducted a detailed forensic examination of the house. Detectives are now following a definite line of inquiry.

An incident room has been set up and door-to-door inquiries in Macroom are ongoing.

Gardaí have established that Mr Geasley was in the company of at least seven men at his rented house on Wednesday night.

He was also spotted with a group of men who were drinking in a park in the town earlier that afternoon.

He was found by his landlord at 10am on Thursday in a pool of blood on a patio at the back of his house.

Detectives have spoken to several people who were in his company in the hours before his death.

They also arrested a man in his 20s at a house in Macroom at 8pm on Thursday night on suspicion of impeding their investigation.

There were reports some people had been told not to cooperate with gardaí.

The man was released without charge yesterday afternoon and a file will be sent to the DPP.

Gardaí have also retrieved CCTV footage from several premises in the town as they piece together Mr Geasley’s last few hours.

They appealed last night for anyone who saw Mr Geasley between 6am on Wednesday and 10am on Thursday to contact the incident room at Macroom garda station on 026-20590.

Mr Geasley had lived for a time in England before moving first to Rylane and then Macroom.

Meanwhile, gardaí continue to investigate the killing of Michael Kelly.

Kelly, 30, was riddled with bullets as he left an apartment block in Clongriffen, north Dublin, where he was visiting his girlfriend and newborn baby, on Thursday.

Kelly, from Swans Nest, Kilbarrack, north Dublin, was one of the biggest importers of drugs into the country. He has been linked to at least three murders.

“There is a bucket of motives and a bucket of possible groups behind it,” said one garda source.