‘KILL LIST’ | 

Man who survived stabbing by Sligo double killer says he planned to kill 12 people

“There were about 12 people on the list. He would have just gone around to every single one of them. He had a kill list. He was going to kill everyone that he was chatting to on Grindr”

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THE man who was stabbed in the eye by Yousef Palani has revealed how the homophobic double murderer had a ‘kill list’ of around a dozen other men.

Palani (23), from Markievicz Heights in Sligo, this week pleaded guilty to the murder of Aidan Moffitt at Carton Heights on April 10 last year and Michael Snee at City View, Connaughton Road, in the town two days later on April 12, 2022.

He further pleaded guilty to intentionally causing serious harm to Anthony Burke, after the pair met online.

Mr Burke, who was stabbed in the eye with a seven-inch blade and suffered life-changing injuries, told the Sunday World this week that Palani was a homophobic “coward” who wanted to murder him after tying him up.

After the two had chatted on well-known dating app Grindr, Palani called to the victim’s home.

“He was sitting in my house for a couple of hours with the knife in his jacket, which I didn’t know. He was going to kill me in the house,” Mr Burke said.

While they chatted, Palani told him he was into tying people up.

“He showed me the ropes he was going to tie people up with. He said this was his ‘thing’ – he liked to tie people up.”

The sadistic killer also showed Mr Burke the online profiles of around a dozen men he had been chatting to on Grindr.

Mr Burke didn’t know it at the time, but he says he realised after hearing about the first murder that it was a ‘kill list’.

“There were about 12 people on the list. He would have just gone around to every single one of them. He had a kill list. He was going to kill everyone that he was chatting to on Grindr.

“He probably wouldn’t have got caught for a while if I hadn’t survived and [could] identify him.”

Mr Burke said he refused to be tied up by the evil killer and ushered Palani out of his home after becoming uncomfortable in his presence.

He revealed that after he walked Palani out of his apartment and a short distance up the road, the evil killer followed him back towards his house and stabbed him in the eye before saying: “There you go”.

“You’d want to see the size of the knife. It was about seven or eight inches. It was a big massive kitchen knife and he shoved it into my eye with force, with temper, because he couldn’t get his own way.

“I knew I was in serious trouble when the knife went in my eye. I just saw a flash and asked him ‘’why did you do this?’ He didn’t respond. He just waited there looking at me.”

He said the cold-blooded attacker then waited to see if he would collapse – and has no doubt Palani would have come back to murder him if he did.

“If I collapsed, he would have come back and he would have slashed me up and I wouldn’t be here today. I’m blessed, I’m very lucky.”

Mr Burke was hospitalised with serious injuries after the incident and locals, who had seen a white Garda forensic tent at the scene, wrongly believed he had died.

“My father got phone calls saying I was dead. Everyone thought I was dead,” Mr Burke said.

The victim was later able to give gardaí a description of Palani, informing officers that he knew his attacker didn’t live far from him but he didn’t know his real name.

Palani went on to murder Mr Moffitt at his home in Carton Heights in a savage attack the following day while Mr Burke was still in hospital.

Mr Burke later returned home and gardaí called to his house after Mr Moffitt’s body was discovered a day after he was killed.

“It took them until the first murder. I got a knock on the door and the guard said ‘I’m sorry Anthony, but there is a man after getting killed’. I told the guard the man’s name before he said it.”

The day after Mr Moffitt’s body was discovered, gardaí were called to an a apartment on Connaughton Road in Sligo town, where they discovered the body of Mr Snee, who had also been brutally murdered by Palani.

“After the first murder it got serious. They wanted to find him. They got me out of the house on the Tuesday night.”

Mr Burke then identified Palani on CCTV and he also travelled around Sligo with armed gardaí calling to the homes of men who were on Palani’s list.

“There were about eight cop cars, with armed gardaí and everything, knocking on doors to see where he was and to warn people.

“We went around all the houses and they put me into a hotel for the night for my safety. I got a call about 2.30am that morning to say they caught him [Palani] up in his house.”

He said he had no doubt that Palani would have gone onto kill the other men on the list if he hadn’t been caught – but he was devastated that two lives were lost before the killer was apprehended.

“We were nearly there but were too late. We were up that direction but we were too late unfortunately,” said Mr Burke.

He described Palani as an evil coward who was methodically planning to murder men.

“He was basically a coward. He wanted to tie people up and then stab them when they had no way of defending themselves.The reason why he did what he did to me was I wouldn’t allow him. He got vexed because he couldn’t have his own way,”

He said Palani was calmly trying to convince him to let him tie him up and had a clear plan of what he wanted to do.

“It was planned out and he had started chatting to all the lads already and I was the one whose house had got into first. He told me who he was chatting to online. I knew they were going to be the next victims when we heard about the first victim.”

He said he was disappointed the State dropped the attempted murder charge against Palani after he pleaded guilty to the lesser assault charge.

“I’m disappointed that I couldn’t get my day and couldn’t tell the people exactly what happened. I want it out. I’m glad for the other families that they don’t have to go through three weeks of listening to it.

“It was horrendous. The ambulance crew that went in walked back out again because they couldn’t handle it. It wasn’t nice at all. It was pure savagery.”

Mr Burke added that he received great support from the people of Sligo after the attack but it forced him to come out.

“It was good to see [the support], but I’ve lived 49 years without anyone questioning me and now the whole world knows. I didn’t want to come out this way.”

He said he feels he will always be associated with the murders.

“I feel now that everyone is constantly staring at me because I’ll always be a part of that. I’m constantly looking behind me when I’m walking. I’m nervous.

“I must be strong-minded because I don’t know how I’m coping with the lot of it. Sometimes this stuff can hit you in a year or two years.”