THE search for the weapon which killed the Kerry farmer, Mr Patrick Daly (69), last week, continued over the weekend.
Mr Daly's 105 acre farm at Kilcummin, about four miles from Killarney, has been combed systematically since last Tuesday, when his body was removed from a well opposite the two storey house where he lived alone. He had not been seen alive since last Thursday week, when he visited the local post office.
The dead man's brother, Sean (71), and his two nephews, James (29), and Eugene (21), who worked the farm with him, live in a separate house nearby.
Following a post mortem last Tuesday, it was revealed that Mr Daly had sustained severe wounds in what one Garda source described as a "frenzied" attack.
As well as broken bones in his back, his rib cage was shattered, his arm and shoulder bone were broken, and his jaw and skull were shattered. Gardai believe the murderer or murderers used a blunt weapon, such as an iron bar, in the attack.
After his death, Mr Daly's body was dumped down the well and covered with plastic sacking, stones and sand.
It is understood that a number of implements have been removed from the Kilcummin farm for forensic examination.
Yesterday, a team of gardai, led by Chief Supt Donal O'Sullivan and Supt Mick O'Neill, was again searching the ditches and outlying buildings on the farm for further evidence. So far, no one has been questioned in connection with the case.
Circulars have been sent to most of the 600 homes in Kilcummin parish, asking people to report anything unusual in the normally quiet area before Mr Daly's disappearance.
The dead man, who had been treated last year for a psychiatric ailment, was well liked in the area, where he was known as shy and retiring.
In an interview with The Irish Times last week, his nephews said they wished to stress that no family member had anything to do with the murder.
Mr Daly's funeral took place on Friday last in Kilcummin.