GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING the fatal stabbing of a 31-year-old taxi driver in Blanchardstown, west Dublin on Tuesday night believe he had a prior arrangement to pick up the two chief suspects for his killing from a house in nearby Clonee.
Mark Smyth, who was originally from Ballymun but living in Duleek, Co Meath, may have been stabbed initially in his taxi by his male passenger in some sort of a "spur of the moment" row. As he attempted to escape he was pursued and stabbed repeatedly in the body and neck with what is thought to have been a knife.
Mr Smyth collapsed outside a house on Fortlawn Avenue where he died, despite attempts by at least one neighbour to help him. He left a trail of blood approximately 100 yards from his taxi to the gate of the house. His partner and 18-month-old son were also in the taxi, and witnessed the attack shortly after 10pm.
Gardaí are now examining the relationship between Mr Smyth and the two people - a male and female in their twenties - whom he agreed to drive to Fortlawn Avenue that night.
Attempts to locate the couple are continuing, and gardaí were said to be following a definite line of inquiry. A Garda spokesman said the deceased man was not working as a taxi driver at the time of the attack. Officers are confident he knew the couple well, but his female partner may not have been as well-acquainted with them.
Mr Smyth had no previous criminal convictions and officers do not believe this was a "gangland" attack. However, his suspected male assailant is understood to be known to gardaí for a number of minor offences.
It is understood that the pair were being driven by Mr Smyth to a house owned by one of their relatives on the Fortlawn estate.
Details of a post mortem on Mr Smyth's body were still being awaited last night. The scene of the murder was sealed off by gardaí for much of yesterday, as children played on nearby streets and neighbours gathered to discuss what had happened.
Garda forensic officers continued to examine the area yesterday morning.
A blue tarpaulin marked the spot where Mr Smyth collapsed next to a silver car parked in a driveway. A woman who lived in the house told reporters that her father had attempted to help Mr Smyth, but to no avail.
She said there was an "awful lot" of blood in the vicinity of the driveway, and on the gate.
Later, the victim's brother, who did not wish to be named, laid a red and white wreath and said a prayer close to where his relative had died.
Mr Smyth was a hard-working family man with a young son, his brother said. He had worked as a taxi driver for a number of years; all he liked to do was to be with his family, work and go to the gym. He described how he had received a call from his father in the early hours of Tuesday morning telling him about the death.
"All I know is my brother was stabbed, the police know more than me," he said. "It's like you doing your job, and getting on the bus [ to work] and someone stabbing you. I just want to lay a wreath and say a prayer for him, that's all."
Another man who comforted Mr Smyth's brother at the scene, described him as someone who would "always offer you a lift somewhere if you were stuck". The dead man's family are well known in the taxi business in Dublin and John Ussher, president of the Irish Taxi Drivers' Federation, said they were devastated by the killing.
"His father is very upset. He has taken the news very badly," he said. "I've worked with three generations of the family and I've found them all honest, decent men. I think Mark will be a loss to the business and my sympathies go out to his father, his partner and their young child."
The deputy leader of the Labour Party and local TD, Joan Burton, condemned the murder and called for extra gardaí in the area.