A young Sligo man who died after being viciously assaulted with either a slash hook or a hatchet early yesterday morning was attacked minutes after dropping his pregnant wife home.
Tom Ward (23) was on his way back to his parents' house at Joe McDonnell Drive, Cranmore, Sligo, when the violent assault took place just outside the house.
Neighbours described yesterday how they were awoken by screams as Mr Ward's family discovered him lying on the road with fatal injuries at about 1.15am.
It is understood that four men wearing balaclavas, who were travelling in a Ford Focus car, had either followed the victim or were waiting for him at his parents' house where he had spent the evening with his wife and two-year-old daughter.
While the killing is believed to be related to an ongoing feud between two families, gardaí say they are keeping an open mind as to the motive. A number of neighbours said they had heard gunshots about the time of the attack.
It is understood Mr Ward's assailants dragged him from his Ford Transit van before inflicting the fatal blow to the back of his head with a weapon which gardaí say was a slash hook, hatchet or machete.
The victim was removed to Sligo General Hospital but was pronounced dead there just after 6am. One of 13 children, he lived just a short distance from his parents' house.
A member of the settled Travelling community, he was described by locals as a a skilled boxer in his teens. "He was always out jogging either around Cranmore or out on the beach at Rosses Point," said a neighbour.
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis carried out a postmortem last night as gardaí continued door-to-door inquiries. The dead man's van was removed to Sligo Garda station for technical examination.
Local people expressed sympathy for the Ward family, especially Mr Ward's parents Tom snr and Brigid, and his wife Cliona who is expecting their second child.
Mayor of Sligo Jonathan McGoldrick, who was told of the killing while on holiday, condemned it. "I want to express my deepest sympathy to the family on behalf of the people of Sligo," he said.
The sickening nature of the violence appalled locals. "Tom was always up at his parents' house. He was very close to them," said one local woman. She said it was heartbreaking to hear the screams of the family as they realised the horrific nature of the fatal assault.
Cranmore, the largest housing estate in the northwest with a population of about 2,500, was given a significant boost recently with the approval of a multimillion-euro regeneration project.
In December 2005 another young man was murdered in the estate. Sam Smith, who was also 23 at the time of his killing, was shot when he opened the door of his sister's home in Carroll Drive.
No one has been charged. Mr Ward's killing is the fifth violent death in Sligo since February 2003 when Lindita Kujak, an Albanian national, was strangled in her flat on Wolfe Tone Street.
In July 2004 former soldier Paul Watters was killed just off Stephen Street in the centre of the town.
The most high-profile killing was that of Hughie McGinley, from Connaughton Road in Sligo town. He was shot in the head in April 2005 in front of his partner and baby by the pillion passenger of a motorbike as he sat in his parked van in a busy shopping area.