Finglas residents struggle to make sense of deaths of father and five-year-old daughter

Flowers, children’s toys, drawings and messages of sympathy were left at the house in Finglas, west Dublin, where the bodies of Krzysztof Daczkowski and his daughter Julia Daczkowsa were found at the weekend.

Gardaí are treating their deaths as suspected murder-suicide. Their bodies were found by the girl’s mother on Saturday evening.

The child, who was five, is believed to have died by asphyxiation. Her body was in a bedroom. Her 50-year-old father was found on the landing.

Postmortem examinations on the bodies took place on Monday, but gardaí have not released the results.

On Monday afternoon neighbours in Heathfield Terrace and the wider Heathfield estate, which is opposite Cappagh Hospital, arrived outside the Daczkowski family home, many accompanied by their children.

A woman who brought her five-year-old son said she had not known the family, but said the boy had known Julia from playing on the green in front of the house.

“He left a teddy last night and is back with some flowers,” she said.

As flowers and messages of sympathy accumulated on the path, a covered motorcycle and two cars remained behind Garda crime scene tape.

Among the messages in adult handwriting was a note in which the writer said they were “so deeply sorry” for the “unimaginable loss” of “beautiful Julia”.

Held in place by cuddly toys were sheets of paper filled with children’s drawings and messages of sympathy.

Another woman who arrived with three children said she had not known the family, who are understood to have been originally from Poland. “We just live in the estate,” she said as she and the children left flowers and a card.

None of the people who spoke to The Irish Times wanted to be named.

One woman said parents were having difficulty explaining to their children what had happened. A man standing nearby, looking at the house, said “a lot of people have mental health issues, but it is not talked about”.

An older couple walking a dog said people in the neighbourhood were “deeply shocked”.

One street away, a number of houses were decorated in Halloween pumpkins and fake spiders’ webs. Children returning from school were ushered inside.

A garda van and two uniformed gardaí were outside the house all day on Monday, guiding those with cards and flowers to the growing number of floral tributes between the house and a neighbour’s front door.

Julia, who was due to turn six this month, was in senior infants in a primary school in nearby Tyrrelstown. She had been learning to ride her bicycle over summer and had spent time with her grandmother, who was visiting from overseas.

It is understood additional supports are being made available for classmates and staff at Julia’s school

Her parents Krzysztof and Aga came to Ireland from Poland about 20 years ago. Aga works in a local pharmacist.