GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING the wounding of a man in a gun attack in south Dublin last week have arrested two suspects.
A man and woman, both from Dublin and in their 20s, were detained at an address in Ranelagh early yesterday morning.
They were taken to Terenure and Rathmines Garda stations were they were still being detained last night under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.
The woman is the former partner of a well-known gangland criminal who is in prison serving a lengthy sentence. He cannot be named because he is facing further charges relating to drug dealing. The man arrested yesterday is the current partner of the woman. This man was the victim of what gardaí believe was an attempted murder earlier this year.
Gardaí believe he was singled out for attack at a house in south Dublin because he had entered into a relationship with the ex-partner of the jailed gang leader.
The couple are now being questioned in relation to the shooting of Declan O’Reilly last week. Detectives first believed the non-fatal gun attack may have been linked to Mr O’Reilly’s acquittal on murder charges earlier this year.
However, they now believe he had become embroiled in a dispute with people known to him and had been threatened by them before he was shot.
The dispute is in no way linked to his acquittal for murder.
Mr O’Reilly (31), Parnell Road, Crumlin, south Dublin, was shot three times in a laneway behind a car garage in Harold’s Cross just after 6pm last Tuesday week, September 20th.
He was taken by ambulance to St James’s Hospital and has since made a good recovery.
The shooting occurred at a laneway linking Harold’s Cross Road to Rosary Park playing fields behind Kenilworth Motors.
Mr O’Reilly received gunshot wounds to his hands, arms and chest.
In the High Court in February, Mr O’Reilly denied murdering Derek Glennon in a ground floor corridor of Mountjoy jail in June 2007. The 24-year-old died after being stabbed through the heart, lung, stomach and arm.
The trial jury had viewed CCTV footage of a fight between Mr O’Reilly and Glennon of Stanaway Road, Crumlin. It showed them engaged in a sudden and brief struggle, before prison staff arrived on the scene and separated them.
Mr O’Reilly later told gardaí Glennon had been bullying him for months, forcing him to hide syringes, drugs and mobile phones on his behalf and threatening to have his brother shot. He said he was terrified.