Man who found body parts of slain boy a year ago is victim of savage knife attack

A MAN who discovered the dismembered remains of a teenager in a sports bag almost exactly a year ago has become the victim of a savage knife attack.

The father of two was stabbed multiple times in the shocking incident at Moatview Gardens in Priorswood on Dublin’s northside on Sunday night.

A Garda spokesman said the man “received serious injuries and was taken to Beaumont Hospital” after he was attacked in the front garden of his home at 10.30pm.

He received a number of knife wounds to his arms and chest from the attacker, who fled on foot after smashing a window of the man’s home.

Local sources say one theory being investigated is that the victim may have been targeted because one of his associates was allegedly involved in a social media row that has caused tensions in the locality.

Sources say it also cannot be ruled out that associates of slain gangster Robbie Lawlor may have targeted him.

Lawlor, shot dead in Belfast last April, was the chief suspect for last January’s murder and dismemberment of the teenager who cannot be currently named for legal reasons.

Gardaí are also investigating an incident from last October when the stabbed man was threatened with a gun at his home.

It is understood the man is not co-operating with the investigation into the knife attack which led to his home being sealed off on Monday as officers conducted a forensic examination.

In an interview with the Sunday World last February, after he discovered the body of the teenager, the 39-yearold expressed concerns for his safety and refused to give gardaí a statement, even though he provided them with a DNA sample.

“I was in two minds about coming and doing this interview, but I’m afraid if I don’t I’ll be dragged into a van and broke up by these people,” he said. “I need them to know I didn’t see the car the bag was thrown from.”

He told the Sunday newspaper his ordeal began shortly after 10pm on Monday, January 13, 2020, when he was drawn outside his home by the sound of sirens coming from a Garda chase.

“I walked out to see what all the commotion was about and I noticed the bag. It looked fairly new and it was just sitting on the wall. It was a long sports bag – I didn’t notice a brand on it. My first thought was that it was after being thrown out of a car and left there because of the police being in the area.”

He continued: “There were three things I thought it might have been. I thought, maybe someone had forgotten their gym gear, that it was stolen goods, or it was drugs. And there was drugs found out there not so long ago, so it wouldn’t have been too far of a leap.

“I picked it up and I went into the house with it. The bag was heavy. I thought there’s something important in this. We opened it up – me and another person in the house – after we brought it out to the front room.”

He went into a panic when he realised what he had brought into his home.

“I ran back out with it and put it back where it came from. By then all the neighbours came out because we were screaming ‘there are body parts in the bag’ – and one of the neighbours rang the gardaí,” he said.

The man said he didn’t know gardaí had been on high alert after receiving intelligence a 17-year-old had been abducted and murdered.