Gardaí are growing more fearful that a violent feud in Limerick, which led to a man being stabbed in the chest last Saturday, will escalate out of control and lead to loss of life.
The knife used in the 3.10am attack on Hyde Road was left wedged between the man’s vital organs until he was rushed by ambulance to University Hospital Limerick where medics successfully removed the weapon.
According to sources, the handle of the knife broke off and the blade was left stuck in the man’s sternum, such was the force used in the attack.
The man, aged in his 30s, was recovering in hospital and is expected to make a full recovery from his injuries.
It follows a recent shooting which targeted the house of a well-known convicted criminal and former associate of the Dundon McCarthy criminal gang, who was the target of two previous gun attacks in the mid 2000s.
In one of those shootings – a machine gun attack on his home – he was hit twice in the leg when 14 shots were fired at him.
Following last Saturday’s knife attack, gardaí stationed at Roxboro Road appealed for witnesses “particularly, individuals who were present in Hyde road area at the time of the incident, and, those with video or dashcam footage from the area at the time”.
The feud has escalated in recent weeks after several shootings in the Hyde Road area since February.
A falling out between a drug dealer associated with the Dundon mob and another male in the Hyde Road area has led to tensions brewing in the southside city suburb.
Shots were fired at a house on Hyde Road during the early hours of October 12th, but no one was injured.
Shots were also fired at a house in the area on October 5th in the O’Malley Park estate, in Southill, but again, no injuries were reported.
A man was injured when a pipebomb exploded and also caused damage to two houses on Hyde Road on July 15th last.
The man, aged in his early 30s, received injuries to his arm which Gardai described as “non-life threatening”.
On June 4th, gardaí appealed for information about a drive-by shooting on Hyde Road which occurred around 1.15pm that afternoon.
“Things are beginning to fester now, and I hope it doesn’t spill out of control,” said a source familiar with the feud.
“There has been a noticeable increase in the amount of garda patrols and garda visibility in parts of the city after the last shooting, gardaí are worried that all this will leave someone dead,” they added.
Historic feuding
A separate violent feud in the city between the late 1990s and mid 2000s resulted in 19 murders. However, there has been a lull in criminals feuding with one another in recent years.
However, gardaí are once again monitoring known flashpoint areas to try to keep a lid on rising tensions between rival criminal groups on both the south side and north side of the city.
Old wounds from the notorious Keane-Ryan-McCarthy Dundon feud have been reopened following the death of convicted Moyross gangland killer David “Frog Eyes” Stanners who died in his cell at Mountjoy Prison last week.
Stanners, who is to be laid to rest in the coming days, was serving a life sentence for the murder of Limerick crime boss Kieran Keane and attempted murder of Keane’s nephew and breadman, Owen Treacy in January 2003.
