WHAT HAPPENED TO JASTINE?
Gardaí shoot knife-wielding man dead in search for abducted student
A MAN was shot dead by gardaí last night during a frantic 24-hour search for a kidnapped woman.
The 40-year-old suspect, who has been named locally as Mark Hennessy, was killed outside the Dell factory in Cherrywood Business Park in south Dublin, after brandishing a knife at gardaí.
A black Nissan Qashqai car was recovered at the scene. There was no sign of 24-year-old Jastine Valdez in the vehi- cle and gardaí are appealing to the public for help in finding her.
Officers worked through last night, trying to retrace the movements of the car in the hope of finding third level student Jastine alive.
They believe that Hennessy, who is from Wicklow, may have tied her up and hidden her before trying to get rid of the car, which was the subject of a
major search. Garda sources said last night that Mr Hennessy had threatened to kill himself with the knife during the exchange. He was shot five times to the body and fell backwards.
The Cherrywood site is close to the Dublin-Wicklow border and just a 15-minute drive from where Jastine was abducted.
Mr Hennessy was living in Bray, Co. Wicklow, and originally from Ballybrack in south Dublin. He was a self-employed building contractor, specialising in cranes.
According to security sources, his wife thought he was in the pub when he didn’t come home on Saturday night.
At 6.15pm on Saturday, two witnesses saw Jastine being bundled into the boot of a black Nissan Qashqai close to her home in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow.
The car was seen driving at high speed on the R760 route.
The gardaí were given a partial number plate which they traced to a house in north Wicklow, the home of a married father of two in his early 40s.
He had no previous convictions. A Garda source said he had never come to their attention before and was known as a family man.
His wife confirmed that he was not at home.
Meanwhile, gardaí were contacted by members of the public who spotted the car in Killiney and
The car mounted the footpath
Dalkey. It was first seen at Killiney Dart Station and, when locals approached, it mounted the footpath dangerously and sped off towards Dalkey.
The black Nissan Qashqai, believed to have been used in the suspected abduction, is owned by the man’s wife, but he had access to it and was insured to drive it.
His physical description matches that of the man whom motorists and pedestrians saw bundle the Filipina student into the car.
Gardaí said last night that his wife, who is fully co-operating, was ‘perplexed and shocked’ by the events that have unfolded.
More than 200 gardaí and members of the Civil Defence spent yesterday scouting for any sign of the car and the abducted woman.
Jastine, who is an only child, came to Ireland three years ago and is studying accountancy. Her parents have lived in this country for well over a decade.
The young woman had just got off a bus when she was forced into the boot of the Nissan early on Saturday evening.
Jastine had been in Bray earlier that day, at the gym and visiting a friend, before she was abducted. She had a part-time job in the Co. Wicklow town.
Gardaí are investigating whether her kidnapper was waiting for her to get off the bus.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Superintendent Paul Hogan urged the public to report sightings of the vehicle but warned them not to approach it.
‘If anybody comes across that car, or sees that car, if they could ring 999 and tell us where it is and not to approach the driver or anybody. Just call the gardaí, please,’ he said.
He added: ‘This morning, a search was done up in the Enniskerry area near where she was believed to have gone missing, and her mobile phone was recovered at the side of the road by a search team.’
The superintendent said that the
lack of contact between the woman and her mother was out of character.
Her family contacted gardaí when she failed to return.
‘It is highly unusual for her not to be in contact with her mother. She is in regular contact with her mother via Facebook all the time, and that contact has stopped, so we’re extremely concerned for her welfare and her safety,’ he said.
‘Its unusual, obviously, for a young person to be without their mobile phone,’ he added.
Gardaí believe that Ms Valdaz was making her way home to Enniskerry when the attack happened. They said they are currently taking witness statements and reviewing CCTV footage.
Witnesses called gardaí at 6.15pm on Saturday when a woman and her son saw a car pull up at high speed on a road beside the Powercourt Estate in Co. Wicklow.
A man got out and pulled at Jastine, bundling her into the car.
Gardaí said the speed of the kidnapping suggested that the attacker was not known to the accused and made no attempt to cajole her into the car.
They later heard reports of a woman shouting for help from a dark-coloured Nissan in south Dublin.
A huge search operation was launched that spread from the middle of Wicklow into the centre of Dublin. Reporters could see gardaí searching buildings in the Ballsbridge area yesterday afternoon, while drones flew over Wicklow looking for Jastine.
The Civil Defence, the Garda Divisional Search Team and the Emergency Response Unit helped with the search.
Jastine was described by gardaí as being approximately five foot in height, of slight build, with long black hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a dark-coloured jacket, white T-shirt, grey leggings and runners when she went missing.
One of her neighbours said yesterday that she often took a lift into Bray in the morning with a family living nearby.
The scene of the kidnapping was preserved and an incident room has been established at Bray Garda Station.