Taps turned on‘to destroy evidence’
ALL the taps in the house where a woman and her two children were found dead in Dublin’s Ballinteer had been turned on, causing the house to flood and ceilings to collapse, the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned.
Gardaí are investigating if this was done in a deliberate attempt to destroy forensic evidence in the subsequent murder investigation.
The chief suspect for the suspected murder of Seema Banu, 37, and her young children, sixyear-old Faizan and his older sister Asfira, 11, is being monitored around the clock as detectives continue to build their case. A source said: ‘The suspect is clever. The taps were left running... and the house was destroyed. The suspect is playing a shrewd game, but is under a close eye.’
The suspect has already had two ‘voluntary interactions’ with gardaí in the presence of his solicitor, but he has been less than forthcoming. The man originally presented himself at a Garda station alongside his solicitors within hours of the suspected homicides of Seema, Faizan and older sister Asfira.
Gardaí have been in continuing contact with the man’s solicitor and the man has met with investigators twice since Wednesday’s horrifying discovery.
At around midday on Wednesday members of the Armed Support Unit were called in after concerns were raised that the family had not been seen for four days.
The body of Mrs Banu was discovered lying face upwards on a bed in an upstairs bedroom of her home at Llewellyn Court, Rathfarnham. The bodies of Faizan and Asfira were found in a separate bedroom.
The post-mortems established the cause of their deaths as strangulation, but it has yet to be established how this occurred.
Gardaí are continuing to interview witnesses, conduct doorto-door inquiries and gather and examine all relevant CCTV.
They have been in contact with Seema Banu’s distressed husband and the father of the two children.