Chief suspect in Ballinteer triple ‘strangulation’ murder is ‘under 24-hour surveillance by gardaí’

Man in his 30s has met police twice with a solicitor

A Garda replaces flowers blown over by wind at the scene at Llewellyn Court, Ballinteer, Dublin. Photo: Colin Keegan/Collins

October 30 2020 02:30 AM

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The chief suspect for the suspected strangulation murder of two siblings and their mother is under “discreet” 24-hour garda surveillance as officers attempt to build a case against him. The suspect, aged in his mid 30s, has already had two “voluntary interactions” with gardaí in the presence of his solicitor with senior sources saying he has been “less than co-operative”. Gardaí have not obtained enough evidence to make an arrest in the shocking case yet. The man has now on two occasions by arrangement met detectives investigating the suspected homicides of Seema Banu (37) and her young children, six-year-old Faizan and his older sister Asfira (11). He met gardaí on Wednesday night and yesterday afternoon but nothing of “major evidential value” has been gleaned. “There are many strands to this investigation and, apart from definitively establishing the causes of deaths, there is a massive forensic examination still ongoing at the property in Ballinteer which has so far failed to yield enough evidence to make an arrest,” a senior source told the Irish Independent.