Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
HOUSE OF HORROR
» Homeless man’s head & arms severed » Victim left at scene from Christmas Day
A HOMELESS man was decapitated and his arms hacked off in a gruesome murder.
The body of Francis “Frankie” Dunne, 64, was found in a derelict house in Cork by a neighbour looking for a cat. His head and limbs were strewn around the grounds.
Detectives have launched a murder probe and believe the victim’s remains may have been in the property since Christmas Day. A resident said: “We knew Frankie very well and he was a gentle soul.”
A MAN found decapitated and without arms at a derelict house was a member of the homeless community, it emerged yesterday.
The victim, named locally as Francis “Frankie” Dunne, was found butchered at around 4pm on Saturday by a neighbour.
It is understood the 64-year-old had not been seen for at least two days before the grim discovery at Castlegrenna House, Boreenmanna Road, in Cork city.
Garda Supt Michael Comyns, who is leading the probe, yesterday said he believed the body had only been at the scene “a matter of days”.
Mr Dunne’s decapitated head and limbs were found elsewhere in the grounds of the house on Boreenmanna Road, a quiet residential area, a short time later.
A source told the Mirror: “I never found him to be any trouble.
“It’s a really tragic death and everyone is in a total state of shock.
“I’m sure it will all unfold eventually but nobody can understand why this happened.
“You wouldn’t do that to an animal. “And animals don’t do it to each other... these are humans.
“What kind of a mind does a person possess when something like this happens?”
It is not clear if the victim, from Blackrock in Cork, was killed at the scene or if his body was disposed of on the grounds of the two-storey detached period house.
The building has lain idle for more than a year but sporadically homeless people had been seen outside.
The murder probe was launched yesterday after a postmortem was carried out at Cork University Hospital by locum State Pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers.
Meanwhile, Garda forensic officers carried out a detailed examination of the scene just 1km south-east of Cork city centre and combed the area for clues.
Supt Comyns, who spoke to the media during a press briefing close to the scene, said the deceased suffered “severe injuries”.
It is believed the body may have been at the house since Christmas Day and gardai have appealed to anyone who was in the area since then to come forward.
It is understood the previous occupant of the house is in a care home.
Supt Comyns insisted there was no reason for anyone to have any apprehension about contacting gardai when he was asked about whether a possible “fear factor” might impact the probe. He added: “I can reassure people. They have absolutely nothing to fear.
“Anybody who has a fear can contact the Garda Confidential Line and speak in confidence with us.
“We have a full investigation up and running. We have local patrols out in the area.
“We have a lot of uniformed gardai carrying out house to house inquiries and looking at the CCTV. This is normally a very quiet area. There is a lot of traffic, a lot of pedestrian traffic but it is a quiet area which doesn’t get a huge amount of Garda activity.
“A lot of people in this area do walk in to the city centre. It is a derelict house. There shouldn’t be any activity in and around the house.
“We are appealing for any persons who may have passed on Boreenmanna Road over the last number of days, going back to Christmas Day, if they had seen any activity around this derelict house, to please contact us.
“We are appealing to anyone who has been in the area and seen any activity around the house since then to come forward.”
Supt Comyns said detectives particularly want to speak to motorists, drivers with dash cam footage, pedestrians and locals in the area since Christmas Day and who may have seen activity near the property.
He added: “There has been a lot of speculation in relation to the identity of the person and the injuries suffered by the person.
“We can say there were severe injuries but we do not know the full extent of them. I would ask that any speculation that has been going on since yesterday evening, it is not helpful to our investigation.”
Caitriona Twomey, who runs Penny Dinners charity in Cork, said: “There are no words really to describe how bad this is. It’s awful. I know there’s deaths and there’s violent deaths but this is really at the higher end.
“And it’s scary for it to happen in Cork because at the end of the day we’re such a small island.
“Nobody expects that level of violence and it’s very hard for us to understand it... and then you’re wondering, ‘Who did it?’ and ‘Why?’”