Gardaí in Kerry are continuing their investigation into the murder of Jamey Carney in Killarney with the intention of preparing as complete a file as possible for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
However, detectives investigating the case concede they face a challenge in locating the prime suspect, Ahmed Al Saqar (28), an asylum seeker who said he was from Jordan, and are continuing to gather new information daily.
Al Saqar fled Killarney immediately after the murder of the 43-year-old American, a mother of one, at her home off the Muckross Road last week.
Gardaí have established Al Saqar caught an early morning coach from Mission Road in Killarney to Bachelors Walk in Dublin within hours of the murder of Carney at her rented home late last Monday night or early on Tuesday.
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Gardaí say that upon arriving at Bachelors Walk in the city centre, Al Saqar took a taxi to Dublin Airport. Gardaí have identified him on CCTV arriving at the airport and boarding a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul at 10.40am that he had booked earlier that morning.
“The flight to Istanbul takes 4½ hours approximately so he may well have landed or was about to land at Istanbul airport when it was discovered back in Killarney that Jamey Carney had been murdered so he moved very quickly to get out of Ireland,” said a Garda source.
“But Istanbul airport is one of the busiest hubs in the world ...You could have anything up to 1,500 flights landing there daily and up to 250,000 people transitioning through the place – it’s like a city in itself so it’s going to be a major job to track him there.”
Gardaí are still trying to establish whether Al Saqar, who claimed to be from a village called Al Husn in northern Jordan, near the border with the Palestinian West Bank and Syria, took a connecting flight elsewhere or is hiding out in Istanbul or elsewhere in Turkey.
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“He may not even be who he says he is,” the Garda source said. “It’s going to be a challenge to locate him but Jamey Carney was an American citizen so maybe if America was to put on diplomatic pressure that might yield some results as to where he might be.”
Gardaí are continuing to gather information for a file for the DPP with a view to getting a direction to charge Al Saqar. The force can only seek the extradition of a suspect in a case if they have a direction to charge them with a crime and not as part of any investigation process.
Al Saqar had been living at a centre used to house single male asylum seekers after his arrival in Killarney about 18 months ago. He had recently been spending more and more time at Carney’s house.
Detectives have been taking witness statements from many of the residents at the 40 bedroom Linden House facility as they try to gather as much information as they can about Al Saqar and build up a profile.
Gardaí hope that may help give “some pointers as to where he is or where he might be headed”, the source said.
Al Saqar came to Ireland from the UK in 2024, travelling first to Northern Ireland before making his way to Dublin, where he applied for political asylum at the International Protection Office on Mount Street. He was later sent to Killarney while his claim was being processed.
However, his asylum application was refused and he had appealed this. It is understood he became involved in a relationship with Carney, whom he met a pro-Palestine rally in Killarney, while awaiting the result of that appeal.
Under the regulations that were in place when Al Saqar arrived in Ireland, he was permitted to retain his passport as the State was not required to seize it. However, since June 12th of this year, new EU legislation requires all asylum applicants to surrender their passport on arrival.
Carney was originally from Westchester County, north of New York City, and had moved with her young daughter Michaela to Ireland in May 2021, settling in Killarney. She worked for a healthcare consulting company.
