Deaths of girl and father in Finglas being treated as suspected murder-suicide

Gardaí are treating the death of a father and his young daughter in Finglas, Dublin, as a suspected murder-suicide.

The man and the five-year-old child were discovered by the child’s mother at their home on Saturday evening. The child is believed to have died by strangulation.

Emergency services arrived at the home in the Heathfield estate in by the Cappagh Hospital at about 8pm but were unable to revive the man and child.

There was no sign of forced entry to the house or third party involvement in the deaths. Gardaí believe the father may have killed the child before taking his own life. Sources said the investigation is still at an early stage, however, and postmortem examinations will dictate the next steps.

The bodies were removed by ambulance at noon on Sunday following the completion of an initial technical examination.

The parents came to Ireland from Poland and have lived here for many years. It is understood the father worked as a bus driver.

On Sunday, gardaí conducted ground searches including the front gardens of neighbouring properties.

The Office of the State Pathologist and the coroner had been notified, the Garda said in a statement, adding postmortems would be arranged. “The results of these examinations will assist gardaí in determining the course of the investigation.”

An incident room has been set up in Finglas Garda station and a senior investigating officer has been appointed to oversee the inquiry.

A mother-of-two living in the area spoke of the “disbelief” amongst local residents.

“My daughter would be the same age as the little girl and we used to see her in the playground, particularly over the summer.

“It’s just hard to comprehend when you have kids of your own and now you’re wondering how do you even explain it to them or should you?”

Another male resident said he was “stunned” to learn of the two deaths.

“Myself and my wife saw a number of ambulances coming into the estate last night and we were wondering what happened,” he said.

“We never could have imagined that a young girl had died so tragically. All the neighbourhood are so upset with what’s happened and our hearts go out to the child’s mother.”

Sharing in that sense of shock was Sinn Féin Dublin North West TD Dessie Ellis.

“Heathfield is a newish estate and it’s a really good area, most of the estate are private houses and they’re lovely houses,” he said.

“A lot of people settled in there who were originally from Finglas and other areas. It is really horrific.”

Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne said the community had been “stunned” by the “deeply tragic” event.

“All of our thoughts are with the family of the two people and the wider community,” he said.

Local Fianna Fáil councillor Keith Connolly similarly spoke of the “massive shock” in the area.

“The estate was built in the last 15 years, directly across from the Cappagh hospital so it’s very residential with a lot of young families. Supports will be needed in terms of those involved and for the wider community.”