Gardaí are confident of solving the murder of a 35-year-old father of four shot dead in a drugs-related killing outside a small country school in north Cork and expect to make a number of arrests in the case.
They believe they have identified the gang responsible for the murder of convicted drug dealer David Brett outside Foilogohig national school near Ballydesmond on May 21st.
The initial suggestion was that Brett may have been killed by a Dublin drug baron over a debt but, according to an informed source, gardaí now believe he was murdered by members of a Kerry drug gang. There may have been a local north Cork connection.
Officers believe Brett was coming under pressure from the Dublin drug baron to pay him for two substantial consignments of cocaine seized by members of the Cork city divisional drug squad in the past six months.
They believe Brett was owed money by the Kerry gang and he went to Ballydesmond to talk to them about payment terms so he could get money to pay the Dublin criminal, but the three-member gang killed him instead.
According to the source, the gang are all in their mid- to late 20s. While this is the first time they have murdered anyone, they have a reputation for being violent and have badly assaulted people in the drug trade in Kerry.
"They're a very violent outfit - they've given a number of fellows some really bad hammerings in the past, including one young fellow who they lit a fire under and tried to roast while they left another fellow virtually in a coma.They're very vicious," said the source.
Gardaí have always believed Brett was lured to Ballydesmond on the pretext of meeting with someone he trusted. Examination of his mobile phone records assisted their investigation.
Detectives have also identified the type and calibre of weapon used to kill Brett, who was shot once in the head. Garda ballistics experts are checking if the weapon was used in other shootings in or outside Ireland.
Last week, RTÉ's Crimecallprogramme carried out a reconstruction of Brett's last known movements in his silver Audi car. Sgt Tony Davis appealed for information on two black cars and a motorbike seen in the Foilogohig area at about the time of the murder.
Garda sources have described Brett as one of the biggest players in the Cork drug scene. He moved from the importation of ecstasy and cannabis in the late 1990s to the importation of much more lucrative and less bulky cocaine over the past three to four years.
A native of Togher on Cork's south side, Brett lived at Cromogue, near Liscarroll, about 11km (seven miles) from Charleville in north Cork with his partner Shelly, daughter Michaela and sons David, Cian and Darragh.
Brett had been caught drug dealing when he and an associate - John Murphy, from Glen Heights Road, Ballyvolane in Cork - were arrested with more than €100,000 worth of ecstasy tablets at Murragh, Ballymartle, in Cork on October 22nd, 1998.
Murphy was given a 12-year sentence for his part in the drug-dealing operation but Brett was given a seven-year suspended sentence.
This was appealed by the Director of Public Prosecutions, and Brett was given a two-year term and released in 2003.
