Gardaí still establishing facts surrounding fatal assault

Gardaí are still trying to establish all of the circumstances surrounding the murder of a 21-year-old man in Dublin city centre last weekend.

Qayyam Balogun was found fatally injured on Clarendon Street after he had been attacked and stabbed a number of times.

He had been chased by a number of men from a social event at Bewley's on Grafton Street in the early hours of last Monday morning.

The young man who was a student at Maynooth University was later pronounced dead in hospital.

Gardaí have recovered a number of knives which they suspect may have been brandished by some of the attackers.

These have been sent to Forensic Science Ireland for DNA and fingerprint analysis.

They have also gathered CCTV and social media footage from the area around Grafton Street, Clarendon Street and the surrounding streets which show a number of young men running, some carrying knives.

A man in his 20s, who is from the south east of the country, was arrested in connection with the investigation.

He is still being questioned today at a south Dublin garda station and must be charged or released by this evening.

A woman in her 20s who was also arrested has been released without charge pending a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Garda search for 'persons of interest'

Gardaí are also searching for a number of other "persons of interest" in the case whom they suspect may have been involved in the events surrounding the murder, including one man who has since left the country.

The man who is from the south of the country and has a number of previous convictions and a history of violence.

He is believed to have travelled to Northern Ireland following the fatal attack and then on to Scotland.

Detectives have not yet established a motive for the murder and say there appears to have been confusion inside at the social event before the attack and subsequently on the streets outside.

A 19-year-old woman was also injured during the series of violent incidents which appear to have begun inside the social event.

Qayyam Balogun’s family said he intervened when a woman was being harassed, but have stressed the was a "very quiet, funny, friendly" guy who did not cause any trouble.

He was born in Ireland and his family who are from Nigeria have been living in Dundalk, where he went to school, for more than 20 years.

The event in Bewley’s was a Nigerian rap night with a live performance and attracted young people from all over the country, some who stayed in rented accommodation over the weekend.

Gardaí also searched an Airbnb property in Dublin 4 earlier this week and recovered evidential items including blood stained clothes.

The man who fled to the UK is believed to have stayed there after the attack.

He is currently on bail charged in connection with a separate attack last year.