DUBLIN—A small Irish town has been left reeling after two suspected anti-gay killings were discovered in the space of just over 24 hours. A further attack on a third gay man left the victim with severe eye injuries.
Irish police, known as gardai, said Wednesday that a man in his early twenties is now in custody, suspected of killing political and peace activist Aidan Moffitt, 41, whose body was discovered Monday evening, and a second man, Michael Snee, 58, whose body was found Tuesday evening.
Both men were found at their respective homes in the coastal town of Sligo, which has a population of 20,000.
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The bodies were mutilated, with “similar” wounds inflicted on the two men, the Irish Times reported.
The paper’s respected crime correspondent said each man had met their attacker on gay dating apps, and suggested that the suspected killer, who was arrested at 1:45 a.m. Wednesday morning after armed police flooded the town, may have been responsible for the attack on the man with eye injuries.
Gardai said they are actively investigating a “hate” motive. They said they were also investigating whether the men had met their attackers online, and issued urgent safety guidelines to people using dating apps.
The gay community in Ireland was quick to react to news of the shocking murders—led by Ireland’s former premier, Leo Varadkar, who is due to resume the role later this year. He publicly stated he was gay in 2015, ahead of a referendum on gay marriage that the “yes” side won by an overwhelming margin.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said that the LGBT community had been confronted with a number of “distressing” incidents in recent days, saying: “These are incidents that we thought were behind us. And again, I just want to reassure people that any crimes that are motivated by hate or by prejudice or by discrimination, will not be tolerated and will carry higher sentences. I hope to introduce the hate crime bill in a matter of weeks to respond.”
Garda superintendent Aidan Glacken said Moffitt and Snee “were well known and respected in this community. They were assaulted and murdered in their own homes. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families at this time and indeed their friends and the wider community in Sligo.”
A friend of Moffit’s, Blaine Gaffney, told the Irish Sun: “It’s quite chilling, it’s quite scary. There’s been talk about a lot of things that have happened in Sligo over the last four days but this particular thing would be really, really scary.”
