Further arrests in Doherty case

Gardaí investigating the murder of Wayne Doherty in Dublin last year have made two further arrests, bringing the total number of people in custody to six.

A woman in her 20s was arrested today and is being held  under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act at Cabra Garda station. A second woman in her 30s was also arrested and is being held in Finglas.

Two teenagers were among the four people arrested yesterday over the shooting, during which Mr Doherty (32), a father of two, was killed as he tried to help a friend prevent an attack on his home in Hartstown, west Dublin, on July 4th.

The three men and a woman were arrested at addresses in west Dublin yesterday morning under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act. They can be held for up to 72 hours without charge.

The woman arrested is in her 40s and is being detained at Lucan Garda station. A man in his 20s is being questioned at Finglas Garda station, while the other two men, in their late teens, are being questioned at Cabra and Ballyfermot Garda stations.

One of those arrested is being questioned on suspicion of withholding information, while the other three are being quizzed about the commission of the killing.

Gardaí believe Mr Doherty’s murder was linked to a row at a christening party in a pub in Co Meath earlier on July 4th. A man known to the Doherty family became involved in a physical altercation in the pub with a man from Clonsilla, west Dublin.

The Dohertys’ friend left the pub but feared the men he had fought with were about to attack or open fire on his house, in the vicinity of the Doherty family home in Oakview Way, Hartstown. The man asked Mr Doherty, a former pub bouncer and an accomplished boxer, to help him.

Later that night two cars carrying an unknown number of men pulled into Oakview Way. At least one of the men was armed with a sawn-off shotgun.

Gardaí believe these men were associates of the man from Clonsilla who had been in the pub row with the man known to the Doherty family.

Mr Doherty was outside his parents’ home at Oakview Way with his brother and sister when the two cars pulled in. He crossed the road to confront the occupants of one of the vehicles. As he did this, one of the men in the car produced a sawn-off shotgun. He fired two shots, one of which fatally wounded Mr Doherty in the side of the upper body.