Gardaí seek information on murder

Gardaí hunting the attackers of a man stabbed to death on Monday night have issued a photograph of the victim in an appeal for information.

Paul Keegan (42), of Westpark Apartments in the Chapelizod area of Dublin, was found in a laneway off Beechfield Road in Walkinstown on Monday at about 9pm.

He died a short time afterwards in hospital.

There are reports that an imitation machine gun was found at the scene after the attack.

Gardaí released Mr Keegan's photograph last night in an attempt to jog the memory of anyone who might have seen him in the area on the night he was killed.

Detectives want to speak to anyone who was on Beechfield Road, Cherryfield Road or Cromwellsfort Road in Walkinstown between 8.30pm and 9pm on Monday.

Mr Keegan was with a friend when he was attacked in the south Dublin suburb.

The men went to the lane at the back of Beechfield Road in a four-wheel drive vehicle, where it is thought they met one or more people in another car.

After the attack, Mr Keegan's friend ran to a nearby home to raise the alarm.

Mr Keegan had multiple stab wounds and was pronounced dead at about 9.30pm, shortly after arriving at St James's Hospital.

Gardaí said it was not likely that the killing was linked to a road-rage incident, as first suggested.

© 2007 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times