By Cormac Looney and Conor Feehan
Wednesday July 15 2009
A teenage boy has been caught carrying handgun ammunition in Dublin's north inner city -- amid fears of fresh violence in the Sheriff Street feud.
Gardai said the 15-year-old was stopped by armed officers on the Drumcondra Road last night, carrying a loaded magazine for a 9mm handgun.
The seizure was made hours after the burial of David Byrne, whose funeral has led to increased tensions in a long-running feud between two north inner city gangs -- led by jailed criminal Christy Griffin and a rival.
Byrne, who was affiliated with Griffin's rivals, had the word RATS written on his forehead as his body lay on open display at Jenning's Funeral Home on Amiens Street.
There was a heavy garda presence in the north inner city last night as officers stopped and searched a large number of people.
The arrested youth is from Sheriff Street and officers believe he was moving the ammunition for more senior criminals.
He remains in custody today as gardai seek to establish which gang asked the boy to move the ammunition.
The arrest was made a number of hours after David Byrne, from Mariner's Port, was buried.
Depraved
His brother Stephen described the act as "cowardly" and said it was a deed perpetrated to get back at his family from a member of a gang in the area.
He said: "The gardai dealing with this told us they have never seen anything so depraved in their lives as what happened to David.
"My parents are in bits over this. It's disgusting," he told the Herald.
Byrne died after he was assaulted in C1 wing in Mount-joy Prison on June 9.
He was hit with a sock filled with batteries in an attack which was not believed to be linked to the feud, which has claimed three lives over the past three years.
There was no mention of the desecration of the body or the attack on his life at Byrne's funeral in St Laurence O'Toole Church on Seville Place yesterday.
A photograph on the coffin showed David holding his own son, David.
Fr Ivan Tonge told those gathered that losing somebody so young was hard for any family.
He said: "He will be fondly remembered by his parents, his brothers and sisters, and all who knew him"
Byrne's partner Brigid attended his removal service, but was not present at the funeral.
The remains were brought from the church as the Aslan song Crazy World played from the altar.
- Cormac Looney and Conor Feehan
No comments:
Post a Comment