Gardaí believe Tony Dempsey (28), whose remains lay in a Dublin city flat for over a week before the alarm was raised, was killed in a drug-related incident by somebody he knew. The dead man suffered serious head injuries in a violent assault at flat in Kevin Barry House, Coleraine St, Dublin 7, where his body lay for over a week despite the property being used by drug users.
Detectives believe Mr Dempsey, who was originally from Inchicore, Dublin 7, was among a group of drug users who were “coming and going” from the flat after the vulnerable tenant living there had lost control of the property.
The alarm was raised on Monday evening and when gardaí and paramedics went to the address they discovered Mr Dempsey’s body on the floor in a bedroom. The remains, covered in garments or blankets, had begun to decompose to the extent it delayed the official identification of the dead man.
The vulnerable tenant, who was previously homeless, had been placed in the property over 18 months ago by the Peter McVerry Trust as part of a housing project run in conjunction with Dublin City Council. In recent months the tenant had lost control of the flat as drug users and homeless people called to it and gained entry. There is no suggestion that the tenant is suspected in any way of being involved in the murder.
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There were reports of large numbers of callers, often in the early hours, and gardaí believe Mr Dempsey was among them and was fatally assaulted by others he was in the property with around the start of last week. While staff from the Peter McVerry Trust had visited the flat just last weekend, they were unaware Mr Dempsey lay dead inside the property. The investigation into his murder is being carried out by gardaí at the Bridewell Garda station.
The dead man’s mother and sister had both died in the past two years. Extended family members paid tribute to Mr Dempsey in posts on social media on Tuesday night. A cousin said she was in “complete shock from the news”. “Such a cruel world,” she wrote in a Facebook post, while another cousin said he would be “deeply missed”.
Five years ago Mr Dempsey was arrested in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, after an attack in which a man lost the tips of both of his ears. The court was told Mr Dempsey had just spend months in a drugs rehabilitation centre at the time and had spent three quarters of his life either in care or incarcerated. He was placed in care 10 times in 10 years as a child.
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Mr Dempsey had been staying with a relative in Co Donegal when the assault occurred but had had 28 different addresses, which the court was told indicated his ‘transient nature’. Dempsey had 46 previous convictions at that time for a wide range of offences including dangerous driving, criminal damage, public disorder, misuse of drugs, possession of a knife and possession of an explosive substance.
In 2014, when Mr Dempsey was aged 20 years, he was jailed for two years, for his role in a group assault on a man on a street in Dublin 8. When gardai arrived on the scene they followed a trail of blood from the ambulance where the victim, who was stabbed, was being treated found the scene of the assault.
When he was arrested for the assault he was armed with an axe and had jewellery and car and house keys on his possession that he had just stolen from a house in Terenure. The sentencing hearing, in November 2014, was also told Mr Dempsey’s father was also in prison at the time.
