Gardai last night said they had made “significant progress” in the investigation into the death of married dad-of-three Ian McDonnell.
The businessman, described as a “pure gentleman”, was found lying on the ground with serious injuries at Robinhood Road in Clondalkin, west Dublin, last Sunday at around 6.15pm.
Mr McDonnell was rushed to Tallaght Hospital but died on Friday evening surrounded by his family who had kept a vigil by his bedside for nearly a week.
Gardai believe the 50-year-old was carried on the bonnet of his car before being thrown onto the road after he disturbed a thief trying to steal the vehicle.
A team at Ballyfermot Garda station has established that Mr McDonnell, who was the Dublin manager of Ozone Cars, had visited his premises a short time earlier.
They are hoping to identify the suspects involved in the assault through CCTV and have interviewed witnesses and carried out door-to-door inquiries. The former parish priest of Elphin in Roscommon, where Ian had family links, has described his brutal death as “horrific”.
The Very Rev John Gannon said Mr McDonnell’s wife Monica is from the village and met her husband after he spent summers in Roscommon where his father worked.
Fr Gannon said he knew the family well and the dead man’s brother-in-law, who still lives in Elphin, had spent most of the week in Dublin comforting his sister and her family. He told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “Ian’s father worked as bank manager in Roscommon and I believe that’s how they met.
“They are a lovely family and very quiet. I am absolutely shocked. The family are utterly devastated.
“It is horrific. We are a small community, there is a lot of shock in the area to read and hear about this.
“There is no value on life any more.” The car stolen in the incident, a grey Volkswagen Passat registration 161 OY 1861, was found at Limekiln Green, Greenhills, Dublin, on Friday and will be forensically examined.
A second car involved in the incident, a silver Toyota Aqua, registration 152 D 32687, was discovered burnt out in Ballinascorney, Tallaght, on Tuesday.
The Toyota was stolen in Crumlin on the day the incident took place and is also being examined by gardai. Gardai in Clondalkin want to speak to anyone who was in the Robinhood Road area on the evening of January 23 between 5.30pm and 7pm and who may have witnessed any activity, or who may have video dashcam footage.
They also appealed for information about the whereabouts of both cars involved in the days before they were found abandoned.
A source said: “Garda are trawling CCTV footage and are hopeful of identifying a suspect.”
A postmortem was due to be carried out on the body last night as tributes flooded in on RIP.ie for a “pure gentleman”.
Mr McDonnell’s death notice said: “To the inexpressible grief of his heartbroken wife Monica [nee Beirne] and children Clodagh, Gareth and Aoife.
“Ian will be fondly remembered and sadly missed by his wife and children.”
