Gardaí investigating the suspected murder of a Romanian whose body was found in a suitcase in Dublin’s Royal Canal are examining a house in the Sandymount area of the city.
A Garda spokeswoman would not confirm whether the search had uncovered evidence of a violent assault. However, she said the house was being examined along with another address in the city. The man who was in his twenties is known to have stayed for a time in the house.
There are unconfirmed reports that the man’s Russian girlfriend had a flat in the house and that gardaí are trying to trace her.
The man’s body was found two weeks ago, about a 100 yards from his flat in the North inner city. He had been living in Ireland for the last two years. A post-mortem found he died of head injuries consistent with those made by a number of blows to the head.
Gardaí are still trying to trace the man's family in Romania through Interpol. The man's name will not be released until a formal identification has taken place. Gardaí are also checking with the Department of Justice to see if the man was an asylum-seeker. The breakthrough in identifying the body follows an appeal by gardaí for information which was accompanied by a photograph of the dead man.
