Dream turns to a nightmare for random victim of frenzied attack
More photos:Tuesday December 18 2007
Michael Hughes was building his dream home to share with his fiancée Deborah close to where the couple had grown up.
Michael (30) had been working for many years with Dublin Bus at its garage at Broadstone on Dublin's northside.
But he moved back to his native Banagher in Co Offaly last August.
On Saturday morning, Michael's life was cut short when he was brutally murdered while visiting a cousin in the capital.
Michael's father Liam and mother Mary were being comforted yesterday by friends and relatives.
His heartbroken father said the family did not want to make any comment at this time, but said that they are "living in a nightmare".
The family have also been in touch with Michael's only other sibling, his brother Brian, who is travelling with two friends in Cambodia and Thailand.
Michael was attacked and suffered multiple stab wounds in the lobby of a Dublin apartment block after he returned early from a friend's engagement party in the city on the weekend.
Blood
He died shortly after being found lying in a pool of blood, having been stabbed with what is believed to have been a garden shears at Manor Villas in Harold's Cross in the early hours of Saturday morning.
It is believed Michael had travelled to Dublin on Friday to attend the friend's engagement party.
He had arranged to stay at his cousin Liam's flat in Harold's Cross and is believed to have left the party shortly after midnight to go back to the flat alone.
It is understood that Michael did not know the person who confronted him as he entered the apartment complex.
What ensued was a bloody and frenzied attack, which ended with Michael receiving multiple stab wounds to his upper-body, face and head.
Michael's body, which has not yet been released to the family, was found by another resident in the apartment block.
The dead man's fiancée Deborah Lynch who is also from Banagher, was with Michael's parents at their home outside the Offaly town yesterday afternoon.
The investigation into Michael's death has been upgraded to murder after a post mortem examination confirmed the victim had died of stab wounds.
A 24-year-old man who was taken into custody following the discovery of Mr Hughes's body is currently undergoing psychiatric assessment at a hospital in Dublin.
- Dara deFaoite
