Gardai are preparing a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to two men questioned about the murder of Ms Sinead Kelly. Ms Kelly (21), who worked as a prostitute in the Grand Canal area of Dublin, was found stabbed to death early on June 22nd.
One of the men, originally from Dublin, was arrested in Co Meath on Thursday in connection with drug-trafficking. He was questioned in Pearse Street Garda Station and is due for release this morning, unless gardai apply to the courts to extend his detention.
A second man was arrested on a street in Crumlin shortly after 11 a.m. yesterday. The 20-year-old man is known to gardai and was questioned for 12 hours about Ms Kelly's murder. A senior Garda source said last night a file on both men would be sent to the DPP.
One of the main focuses of the murder investigation has been the attempt to trace a telephone call to the RTE press office the morning after Ms Kelly's body was found. A man, who phoned twice that morning, knew Ms Kelly's identity before gardai were certain.
Ms Kelly's bag, believed to contain some personal belongings, including a perfume bottle, was missing when her body was found. She was a heroin addict and was known by gardai to deal heroin to feed her habit.
Gardai once found 40 "street deals" of heroin on Ms Kelly when they arrested her and, according to one source, she was believed to be naive about selling drugs. It is understood she would give heroin to other addicts "on tick", and would be left without the money to pay her supplier. Days before she was murdered gardai found her injecting herself in a flat in north Dublin.
Ms Kelly came from a respectable family in Santry but had been using heroin for a number of years. After her murder there were calls for new measures to protect prostitutes in the area.
Older prostitutes operating in the Dublin 4 red light district said the area had become more dangerous with the increasing number of addict prostitutes, some of whom were robbing clients and threatening other women.
