Man due in court in connection with 'chess row' killing
A man is due in court later this morning in connection with the death of Thomas O'Gorman.
The 39-year-old was found dead at his home at Beech Park Avenue in Castleknock in Dublin in the early hours of yesterday morning.
The man was stabbed to death in a violent late night row over a chess game, detectives believe.
He had suffered a number of stab wounds as well as other injuries.
A 34-year-old man was arrested at the scene and is due to appear at Blanchardstown District court later.
Gardaí were called to the scene of the killing the north Dublin suburb of Castleknock at around 1.50am.
They believe a violent row erupted over a chess move and spiralled out of control.
Another man – aged 34 years and understood to be from Palermo in Italy – was arrested at the scene.
Investigating gardaí are not looking for anyone else in connection with the death, which will be treated as murder as soon as post mortem examination results are confirmed.
A Garda source said: “It was a very unpleasant scene for our people to walk into. This was a bizarre killing and the dead man sustained substantial injuries to his body.”
It is understood the dead man was a former journalist with The Voice Today, a Catholic newspaper.
A graduate of University College Dublin, he was more recently a researcher with the Dublin-based Catholic lobby group the Iona Institute.
The man – who has a brother and a sister – was living at the family home after his mother died in 2012. His father had also passed away.
He is believed to have taken in a lodger in recent months to help supplement his income.
It is not thought there were any drink or drugs involved in the incident. A knife has been recovered at the scene.
In a statement, David Quinn, director of The Iona Institute, said Mr O’Gorman’s friends and colleagues were devastated at his death.
“On behalf of everyone at The Iona Institute, I would like to express our total shock and deep sorrow at the terrible and untimely death of Tom O’Gorman,” he said. “Tom was a friend as well as a work colleague to us all.”
Mr Quinn confirmed Mr O’Gorman had been working as a researcher at the Iona Institute for the past seven years.
“Most of us knew him from before then, in some cases all the way back to his days at UCD,” he said.
“He was a fond and dear friend and we will all miss him. We extend our deepest commiserations to his family and above all to his sister and brother, Catherine and Paul.”
