Two held after fatal attack near airport

The family of a young Estonian man who died early yesterday after being beaten up near Dublin airport is preparing to travel to Ireland in the coming week.

The man (28), whose car was burnt out following the attack, died later in hospital.

He was set upon at about 12.30am yesterday by three or four men as he sat in his car with a female friend at a lay-by on the Forrest Little Road, a quiet country road on the northern perimeter of the airport.

It is an area where plane spotters often park to observe the airfield at the airport and is also a favourite place for courting couples.

Gardaí say the man was dragged from the car and badly beaten while on the ground.

His female companion, who is also Estonian, ran to "people nearby" and a call to the emergency services was made. There were other people parked in cars in the lay-by at the time.

The man was taken to Beaumont Hospital and pronounced dead at 2am.

He had been living in Ireland for a number of years, had a home in the Blanchardstown area and had been working as a forklift operator for a large company.

His body was identified to gardaí by his flatmate. He is understood not to have any family living here.

A postmortem was carried out yesterday and was expected to confirm that he died as a result of head injuries. Gardaí say they are examining a "number of motives" for the attack, including robbery.

The man's car, a dark-coloured Volkswagen Golf with a Northern registration, was driven from the scene, through the N1 towards Cloghran and Clonshaugh, before being abandoned and set alight at a disused Traveller halting site at Belcamp.

Gardaí said the car entered the halting site from the Moatview housing estate and are appealing to anyone who may have seen the car, or people leaving the halting site in the early hours of yesterday morning, to come forward.

The area around Forrest Little remained cordoned off yesterday as the scene was examined by Garda technical experts.

Of those living in the three houses nearby none reported hearing anything in the early hours of yesterday. One woman, who did not want to be named, said the first she heard of the incident was when her husband called her at about 8am.

"He was out at 5 o'clock this morning and couldn't turn left up there because of the Garda tapes across the road. He works at the airport. We didn't hear a thing. It's really shocking, really awful isn't it?"

Another woman, living in a house about 400 yards from the scene, said she had been up until 1am and had not heard anything. "I've just heard it on the radio now. I was awake and everything - on the phone to my partner. Jesus I can't believe it."

At a briefing outside Swords Garda station Chief Supt Gerard Philips said the young woman who was with the man when attacked was "quite traumatised".

She had been interviewed through an interpreter and had been offered counselling, he said. She had described herself as a friend of the dead man.

He appealed to anyone who may have been the victim of a violent attack or car robbery in the same area in the past few weeks or months, but had not reported the incident, to come forward, adding that any information would be treated in the strictest confidence.

A spokesman for the Estonian embassy in Dublin said the man's family had been informed, initially by his flatmate and later by the Estonian police following contacts by the Garda.

Anyone with information should contact gardaí at Swords on (01) 6664700.