Last month’s gruesome attacks are indicative of a trend in violent crime that cannot be divorced from the effect of cuts to policing and other services, says Security Correspondent Cormac O’Keeffe. 2020 dawnsThe start of the month was ominous when, on January 2, an 18-year-old had one of his fingers cut off in a fight involving up to 20 youths in Artane, north Dublin. On January 12, the same day as a shooting in Kilbarrack, north Dublin, in which a man in his 30s received injuries, Keane Mulready-Woods went missing. Gardaí now suspect that attack may have been in revenge for the abduction and what was then the suspected murder of Keane. Two days later, a head was found inside a burning car near Drumcondra in north Dublin city.

Source: Irish Examiner February 01, 2020 08:03 UTC