Updated 2pm
GARDAÍ HAVE APPEALED for members of the public to come forward with any information they have about the murder of Noel Duggan, who was shot outside his home last night.
Duggan, a close friend of Gerry ‘The Hutch’ Monk was known as ‘Mr Kingsize’ during his cigarette smuggling days, was shot five times with a handgun as he sat in his car, having just pulled into the driveway in front of his home in the Old Mill housing estate.
Speaking to reporters outside Ashbourne garda station this afternoon, Superintendent James Cannon said gardaí are particularly interested in a man in dark clothing seen running from the scene onto the Fairyhouse road.
That was at the time of the shooting. We’re also interested in a BMW car which was seen – dark coloured car, possibly a BMW, driving onto the Fairyhouse Road heading in the direction of Fairyhouse.
Two burned out cars were found at Cairn Court a short time later and a man was seeing getting into a dark saloon car heading in the direction of Ratoath village.
‘No indication of a threat on his life’
The superintendent said gardaí had “no intelligence either that his life as at risk or that there was any issue about him being a target for such an event”.
There is no intelligence whatsoever and no indication to us that there was any danger to him.
However TheJournal.ie understands gardaí spoke to the father-of-three shortly after the murder of Eddie Hutch – a hit believed to be in retaliation for the Regency Hotel shooting in which Kinahan associate David Byrne was killed.
Cannon said all the indications point to this incident being well planned ahead of time.
He described Duggan as a “family man”, telling reporters: “Any time that a man is shot down in his own driveway in front of where his family were inside in the house, that is a barbaric act.”
Horror
The town of around 12,000 people has been shook by the incident, local independent councillor Nick Killian told The Journal.ie.
He said there was a sense of “horror” in the community, that this kind of violence could happen in their neighbourhood.
“The Old Mill would be very much an estate with a lot of young families and young children. Just the horror of that hit people,” he said.
One woman said to me this morning: ‘How do I explain that to my children? Explain what gangland [violence] means.’ It was all over social media last night for them to see.
“I’ve met with about 20 people this morning and they’re all just taken aback.”
Fianna Fáil TD for Meath East, Thomas Byrne, described the shooting as “deeply disturbing”.
“What is most alarming is the fact that this barbaric killing took place in a housing estate where families, and particularly children, could have witnessed this horrific attack.”
The shameless nature of this incident further emphasises the blatent disregard that the perpetrators have for human life.
A human side
Killian said locals feel a lot of sympathy for the victim’s wife, three children and grandchildren.
They’ve lost a loved one, there’s a human side to this.
Parish priest, Father Gerry Stewart, visited the family this morning. He said they were “very much in shock”.
“So, we’ll take it very gently and slowly to see what their wishes are in regards to the funeral.”
‘Quiet and unassuming’
Duggan had taken a step back from the criminal world and was well liked in the community, according to Killian.
He was a very quiet, unassuming man, he’d go for a pint in the local pub. My knowledge of Noel would be to say: ‘Hello, how are you Noel?’ Or talk about the nice weather.
“He never hid himself within the village, even though everyone knew from a long time back that he had a criminal associations through the cigarettes. He’d be an older style criminal, so didn’t do anything in Ratoath to bring attention to himself.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say