Criminal’s fatal stabbing may be linked to a drugs debt

Gardaí suspect that the fatal stabbing at the weekend of a low-level criminal may be linked to a drugs debt.

Mon, 25 May, 2015 - 01:00

Cormac O’Keeffe

The body of 37-year-old Andrew Guerrine was found in the exact west Dublin location where a newborn was abandoned on May 8.

His remains were dumped on Steelstown Lane, Rathcoole, early on Saturday. Senior gardaí are satisfied that there is no connection between the murder and the baby.

Sources said they believe the killers used the spot knowing the area was not covered with CCTV cameras.

Gardaí were dispatched to the scene after a 999 call was made just before 3am from a member of the public.

On arrival they discovered the body of a male. Medical assistance was immediately sought and the man was pronounced dead a short time later at the scene.

Gardaí said the man had suffered visible injuries and initially thought he might have been the victim of a hit and run.

Dr Margaret Bolster, the assistant state pathologist, carried out an autopsy at James Connolly Memorial Hospital, Blanchardstown. It showed that Mr Guerrine, from Rutland Ave, Crumlin, was stabbed to death.

Sources described him as a “small-time dealer” who they believed owed a debt to a gang in the south inner city. “He was banging out heroin for someone in the A district and owed them a debt,” said one source.

Mr Guerrine was known to have carried out a number of robberies at knife-point recently, typically of newsagents and the like, for about €300 each.

Garda sources said they did not believe there was any link to the Rattigan-Thompson feud in the Crumlin-Drimnagh-southwest area.

Detectives suspect that the gang may have chosen the spot after they heard — in the course of reports on the Baby Maria case — the area had little or no CCTV.

Gardaí are appealing to anyone who may have travelled on Steelstown Lane in the early hours of Saturday to contact them.

Meanwhile, gardaí investigating the gangland murder of Micky Devoy in Tallaght on January 18, 2014, are hoping to secure charges against “a key player”, who was released without charge over the weekend.