Gardaí seek to establish movements last week of man whose body was found in Meath field

Gardaí are trying to establish the movements late last week of a man whose body was found dumped in a field in Co Meath at the weekend. The victim has been named as 22-year-old Mahamud Ilyas, who was based in west Dublin.

His remains were found, wrapped in material, on lands at Belgree Lane, Kilbride. Gardaí believe he had been dead for only a short time. Initially, gardaí were unable to identify him but when fingerprints were taken from his remains they confirmed his identity when checked against Garda databases.

The dead man’s family are originally from Somalia, where Mr Ilyas was born, and his fingerprints are understood to have been taken when he entered the country. He has been in Ireland since he was a child.

Mr Ilyas had been badly beaten and died from those injuries, which were consistent with a sustained assault involving being punched and kicked. Investigating gardaí do not believe he died where he was found.

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Instead, he was killed at another location before his remains were wrapped in the material they were found in and taken to a wooded area on the lands in Co Meath. No effort had been made to bury, or even hide, the body beyond it being left in a wooded area, which was more secluded than nearby fields.

Mr Ilyas lived in Blanchardstown and gardaí say there was no intelligence linking him to any organised crime gangs in the Dublin area. Gardaí suspect the killing may have been unplanned and that whoever fatally assaulted Mr Ilyas then panicked and disposed of his remains away from the crime scene in an effort to frustrate the investigation into his murder.

Gardaí investigating the killing are exploring a number of lines of inquiry and have been speaking to his family members and also to friends of his in Ireland. They were trying to establish if he was being threatened or was under any form of pressure from criminal elements in Dublin.

Given the nature of the attack and the fact his body was wrapped up and driven to a remote location and dumped, gardaí suspect he may have been targeted by people with involvement in serious crime, Garda sources stressed the investigation was in its infancy and the motive for the killing, and who was behind it, were yet to be established even though a number of lines of inquiry were being explored.

The scene where the remains were found was sealed off on Saturday immediately after the discovery was made by a man out walking. That location has since undergone a full examination by members of the Garda Technical Bureau. However, the investigation team believes the scene where the victim was killed will yield higher-grade forensic evidence.

Gardaí have appealed to anyone who knew Mr Ilyas and saw him or was on contact with him late last week to come forward. They are particularly interested to speak to anyone who was in contact with him last Friday or early on Saturday. Anyone who saw him or spoke to him between 10am last Friday and about 12pm on Saturday is asked to contact the investigation team at Ashbourne Garda station.

Anyone who was in the area of Belgree Lane, Kilbride, last Friday or Saturday is also asked to come forward. Gardaí are trying to identify CCTV points in the general area that may have captured the vehicle used to transport the remains of the victim to the location where they were dumped.