Probe under way as stab victim dies

The latest murder victim in Dublin collapsed just metres from his home after receiving fatal stab wounds.

The young man, named locally as Shane O’Connor, was stabbed once or twice in the chest with a knife.

The 22-year-old collapsed near the family home on St Donagh’s Rd, Donaghmede, north Dublin.

Gardaí do not know how long he lay there until his body was discovered at 7am yesterday by a passerby.

Locals said paramedics tried to resuscitate him, but he was taken to nearby Beaumont Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

His family were said to be deeply traumatised, while gardaí are trying to piece together the events leading up to the murder.

“The sequence of events is a bit unclear at the moment,” said a Garda source. “That is why we are asking anyone who saw anything suspicious on St Donagh’s Rd between 3am and 7am to contact Coolock Garda Station.”

He said detectives did not yet know when the attack took place, where exactly it happened, or if the victim was with a group of people in the area beforehand.

The scene around where Mr O’Connor collapsed was sealed off pending a detailed examination by the Garda Technical Bureau.

No weapon has been found. Neighbours in the area complained of noise and shouting during the night.

Assistant state pathologist Khalid Jabbar conducted an autopsy yesterday afternoon.

Mr O’Connor had a number of convictions and was only recently released from jail after being sentenced to 16 months for assaulting his then girlfriend twice with bottles.

Last November, a court heard how the couple got into a row at Bewley’s Hotel near Dublin Airport in Dec 2009. When his girlfriend tried to leave, Mr O’Connor threw a bottle in her direction which ricocheted and smashed. A shard of glass became embedded in her head and left her “gushing blood”.

She reported the assault after he hit her with another bottle in a supermarket car park in Oct 2010.

Gardaí struggled to identify the man yesterday morning. A breakthrough came before lunchtime when they put the man’s fingerprints through the Garda Fingerprint System, operated by the Technical Bureau.

Gardaí are urging anyone who was on St Donagh’s Rd between 3am and 7am and who saw anything suspicious to come forward.

Anyone with information can contact Coolock Garda Station on 01-6664200, the Garda confidential line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.