Fingerprint data may be crucial in canal body case

Gardaí investigating the discovery of headless dismembered human remains in the Royal Canal, Dublin, believe the fingerprint database of all asylum seekers maintained by the Garda National Immigration Bureau may prove vital in identifying the man.

Gardaí have confirmed the remains were those of a black man aged between 20 and 30. Officers are hopeful his fingerprints can be matched with a set on the Garda database, which contains prints taken from all asylum seekers who have entered the Republic since November 2001.

A postmortem revealed the man was stabbed to death before he was dismembered and his remains dumped in black plastic in the canal at Ballybough Bridge near Croke Park. While the man's torso and severed legs and arms were taken from the canal, his head has not yet been found.

Divers from the Garda Water Unit continued their search in the canal throughout yesterday. The scene has been sealed off since around 7.30pm on Wednesday after a member of the public first saw a section of torso floating in the water.

Detectives believe the body was in the canal for two weeks but that the victim was murdered elsewhere. The remains had decomposed and discoloured to such an extent that until the post-mortem was concluded gardaí believed the remains were those of a white man.

The dead man is described as having been of muscular build and over six feet. Gardaí believe some members of the ethnic community must have information on the killing, which has been described as "brutal" by Chief Supt Michael Feehan of the Fitzgibbon Street Garda station, who is leading the investigation.

Detectives have appealed to anyone with information - including anyone who thinks someone they know fitting the dead man's description went missing in recent weeks - to come forward.

Investigators have alerted Interpol and, through it, will check missing persons lists and circulate the man's description and details of the murder to police forces in the agency's 181 member states. If the search of the Irish fingerprint database proves inconclusive, similar databases in other countries could be checked through Interpol.

One well-placed Garda source said while the dismembered condition of the remains and the fact the head was missing would give rise to speculation that the murder was a ritualistic one, this would be difficult to determine.

Last July the remains of 24-year-old mother of two, Paiche Onyemaechi, from Malawi, were found on the bank of the River Pil, Piltown, Co Kilkenny. Her head was never found but gardaí identified her by cross-checking her fingerprints against the asylum seeker database.

Officers investigating that case believe she was killed by a Nigerian man and that her head may have been taken to give the impression that her murder was a ritualistic one rather than a "straightforward killing".

They met in London with police officials from Nigeria, who told them that in some Nigerian murders the killer kept the head of the victim, believing it would bring them wealth, inspiration and power.