THE man burned out of his flat, apparently by vigilantes, in north inner Dublin yesterday is suffering from schizophrenia and could not be found yesterday.
Mr Fintan Farrell's family and his GP, Dr Brid Hollywood, said yesterday he was unwell and was not involved in drug selling or drug abuse.
Dr Hollywood said: "To the best of my knowledge he is not a drug pusher or a drug addict. He is not well and I have been seeing him over the past two weeks".
Mr Farrell's family said he suffered from schizophrenia and spent most of his waking hours around the family home near Church Street. He had very little money and had borrowed £2 on Sunday. They said Mr Farrell (25) only returned to his flat to sleep at night.
It is felt Mr Farrell may have been taken advantage of by drug users in Constitution Hill. According to local people, there was daily drug activity around the flat. Mr Farrell's family said he had regularly complained that men were coming into his flat and that he was unable to stop them.
By yesterday evening, the Farrell family had still no word of their son's whereabouts and were becoming increasingly concerned for his safety.
The arson attack at Constitution Hill is the latest in a series of incidents where attacks and damage have been attributed to vigilantes in Dublin. Gardai are investigating another incident in which two shots were fired into a car parked outside a house at Cushlawn Park, Tallaght, early yesterday. No one was injured.
Gardai said an incident in which a shotgun was recovered and a man arrested in Darndale in north Dublin was "domestic". Gardai were called at about 3 a.m. and arrested a man who was taken to Coolock Garda station.
Senior Garda sources in the city said last night that while some of the recent incidents did involve vigilante type groups, they suspected some were the work of criminals trying to pass off intimidation as vigilante activity.
In recent weeks there has been a spate of assaults and arson attacks linked to vigilante activity including the killing of Mr Joseph Dwyer, a drug user with AIDS, who was beaten to death by a mob on May 15th in Dublin city centre.