Gardaí investigating the murder of a 34-year-old father of three who was shot outside a small country school believe the killing is linked to the man's involvement in the drugs trade in Munster.
The body of David Brett, originally from Togher in Cork city, was found with a gunshot wound to the back of the head outside Foilogohig national school four miles north of Ballydesmond village on the Cork-Kerry border at about 10.30pm on Monday.
Mr Brett's body was found beside his silver eight-year-old Limerick-registered Audi A4 by local man Jerh Roche after his sister-in-law, Síobhán Murphy, phoned him to say she had seen the body of a man outside the schoolhouse as she drove home.
Mr Roche said he found the dead man lying face down in a pool of blood with a gunshot wound to the head. It was clear the man was dead and he rang the Garda and the emergency services immediately.
Gardaí immediately covered both Mr Brett's remains and his car and cordoned off the scene to allow Garda technical experts carry out a forensic examination yesterday morning before Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster arrived.
Dr Bolster carried out a preliminary examination of the body at the scene before Mr Brett's remains were brought to Cork University Hospital where she carried out a full postmortem yesterday evening, which confirmed Mr Brett died from at least one gunshot wound to the head.
Gardaí cordoned off about 300m of the boreen leading to the school and search teams from Cork west and Cork city Garda divisions are due to carry out a detailed search of the area today.
Up to 40 officers under Supt Noel Galwey of Kanturk Garda station are involved in the investigation, with officers carrying out door-to-door inquiries yesterday between Ballydesmond and Newmarket.
Supt Galwey appealed to anyone who travelled the Ballydesmond to Newmarket or Ballydesmond to Taur roads on Monday night or anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area to contact them at Kanturk station.
Mr Brett lived at Cromogue, near Liscarroll, seven miles from Charleville in north Cork with his wife and three children, aged nine, five and four years. He had moved there some years ago and was very involved in greyhounds.
However, Mr Brett was wellknown to gardaí to have been involved in a major drugs gang in Cork city with his brother, John, who is serving an 11-year sentence after he was caught with more than €600,000 worth of ecstasy in Glanmire in 1999.
Mr Brett had also been caught drug dealing when he and an associate, John Murphy, from Glen Heights Road, Ballyvolane, Cork, were arrested with more than €100,000 worth of ecstasy tablets at Ballymartle in south Cork on October 22nd, 1998.
Murphy was given a 12-year sentence for his part in the drug-dealing operation but David Brett was given a seven-year suspended sentence, though this was subsequently appealed by the DPP and he was given a two-year term and was released in 2003.
Garda sources say Mr Brett was an associate of Eric Cummins, who was shot dead in Ballincollig, Cork, in August 2005, but they do not believe the two killings are linked, though they are investigating Mr Brett's links with a number of drug gangs in Limerick city.
Foilogohig school principal John Walsh said gardaí contacted him late on Monday night and he rang the parents of the 12 pupils yesterday morning to inform them of the tragedy and tell them the school would be closed.
"It's unbelievable. This is a quiet, tranquil peaceful country area and you would never expect something like this to happen here. . . it's a terrible tragedy."
