The Torso in the Canal (5 page)

Hence, the problem the team faced was not how to find evidence that could secure a conviction, but how to find evidence to identify him. The damage to the body parts was such that it yielded no forensic evidence that could be used in a future trial.

Left with no other option, Mangan circulated a description of the victim, as far as it was possible, to security agencies across Europe. The details were checked against the Garda missing persons register, and the details of the find and likely height of the victim were circulated to Interpol. DNA samples had been taken from the body parts and these were checked against existing databases.

Mangan and others on the team also gave interviews to
The Metro
and
The Street
newspapers, hoping it might prompt someone with information to come forward. They also spoke to religious figures in the African community living in the greater Dublin area. To complement this effort, the team produced posters in a number of different languages, appealing for anyone with information to come forward.

These posters, which displayed the white soccer jersey found with the torso, and the underwear, were circulated. The Crimestoppers organisation also offered a reward of €10,000.

This move generated a significant response insofar as names of various people and missing persons were nominated in secret calls to the incident room, but these were quickly ruled out. In spite of everything, the identity of the victim proved itself to be an elusive and evasive quarry.

*****

Not far away—in the same city—Linda Mulhall had begun to panic. She had suffered from panic attacks ever since she was a child. Now when she closed her eyes, she was haunted by Noor’s face. She couldn’t stop thinking about what she’d done; how she’d covered his head before cutting it from his body.

The utter violence of the death that she and Charlotte had visited upon the victim did not fade from her memory; it grew until she could think of nothing else. It was this feeling—one of being haunted by the memory of Noor—which drove her to return, under the cover of darkness, to where they had buried his head in the Sean Walsh Memorial Park.

Though it may have been because she didn’t trust Charlotte, and didn’t want her to know what she was about to do, she decided to move it to another location.

In a statement she later made to gardaí, she recalled sitting on the bench close to where the head was buried. Here, she prayed and prayed, hoping that somehow the nightmare would end. More than anything, she was terrified that someone would notice the head buried in the ground. The truth was that someone already had.

A member of the public had seen the head when he sat on the bench in the park some days after the discovery of the headless, dismembered body. Laurence Keegan, a retired army private, went to the park alone every day to drink and smoke. He sat on the same bench in the same location. A few days after the discovery in the Royal Canal, he was sitting on his usual bench in the park when he noticed what he thought was the top of a head with short dark hair protruding from the ground. He tried to dig it out of the ground with the toe of his boots, but failed. It occurred to him that what he was looking at may have been the head of the body from the canal.

He told his daughter what he had seen and asked her to return to the park to help him dig it up, but she didn’t believe him and refused. He saw the head there for a few more days and then it disappeared.

At the time, this was unknown to Linda. She put her hands on what appeared to be a rock but was in fact Noor’s head. It was now smooth and hairless. As she lifted the body part from its resting place, she tried not to look at it; she simply couldn’t. What went through her mind can only be surmised.

According to her own statement, she placed the head into a black plastic bag and concealed it in bushes in Killinarden Park until the next day. When she returned, she brought her son’s empty school bag on her back.

Carefully, she put the head into the school bag and walked as far as Brittas. She had lived in Brittas for a while, so she was familiar with the area. She trembled as she walked and tried to remain in control, though it was clear that she was in fact beginning to lose her senses.

Once she took possession of Noor’s head, she found that she couldn’t function without alcohol. So on that morning, she brought a litre of vodka with her, which she hoped would give her the strength to do what she needed to do.

Once she had walked through Brittas, she made her way out into the countryside and away from the sprawl of the housing estates. She then walked deep into a field until she was out of sight.

Here, she fell to her knees, kissed the bag and told Noor that she was sorry. In many ways she was. At that moment, she wanted all the pain that she was experiencing to go away.

She was now beyond grief and despair. She drank the bottle of vodka and spent a few hours sitting with the head. She spoke to the victim, pleaded with him to forgive her, and said she wished she could go back in time. Her mind was full of suicidal thoughts which she dared not admit. She then took the hammer out of the bag and began to smash what remained of the head, trying to break it up into smaller pieces.

In her drunken state, she fell asleep with the smashed head lying beside her. When she woke up, she was cold, and it was getting dark. She saw a mucky patch on the ground beside her and once again attempted to hide the head. She covered the evidence with soil, and said a prayer over it.

Linda was filled with remorse as she whispered to what remained of Noor: ‘I’m sorry. It should not be you.’

When she had covered the head as best she could, she lit a small fire and burned the black plastic bag and the schoolbag there in the field. She ran all the way home, where she fell into bed, exhausted and emotionally wasted.

*****

In the days following the brutal death of Noor, according to statements made to gardaí, Kathleen reported that he was still alive but had left her.

By a stroke of good fortune, Noor had been absent from his place of work at Schmitt ECS on the Friday prior to his death, causing an official at the Adecco Recruitment Agency, which had secured him the job, to try track him down. The company had failed to locate him but one of the staff had managed to contact Kathleen, who allegedly gave the excuse that Noor was away minding a sick baby, and she did not know where he was, nor when he would be back.

The day after the killing, a recruitment consultant with Adecco Recruitment Agency once again attempted to contact Noor but failed. She too called Kathleen, who Noor often referred to as ‘the boss’, on her mobile phone.

The agency did not have any reason to question Kathleen’s response to the query. She didn’t sound nervous and she told the company that she was no longer involved with Noor. Speaking without fear of contradiction, she said he ‘had moved to Kilkenny with a young one.’

No one noticed anything unusual about Kathleen’s behaviour in the days after the killing. Instead she allegedly told anyone who would listen that Noor had left her for another woman.

John Tobin, one witness later interviewed by the investigation team, recalled collecting rent on 25 March. He recalled that she had casually remarked that Noor had left her and had gone back to live with a girl who had a baby with him. He referred to Kathleen as Katherine.

‘Katherine said to me that Farah had left her. He had gone back to a girl that had a baby for him. Katherine had said that she only lived around the corner. She never mentioned the girl’s name. Katherine had said that Farah had a few children in Cork. Katherine told me that Farah was working, I think it was security on nights, maybe a clothes shop, I’m not sure. She found out that he wasn’t working there half the time and that he was seeing this other girl. She told me that some of Farah’s stuff was in black bags downstairs, I think I noticed two or three bags.’

A number of witnesses reported hearing similar stories from Kathleen. Sometime after the killing, a friend of Noor’s called Ibrahim Mohamed met her at 77 Upper Gardiner Street. She also asked him had he seen Noor because she was looking for him.

It looks like she was trying to ensure that anyone who came looking for Noor would think they had separated. It is likely that she was trying to put distance between herself and the killing.

By this stage she had moved to erase all evidence of what had taken place in the flat at Richmond Cottages. This included disposing of the blood stained carpet and replacing it with a new one.

On 26 March, she purchased a piece of carpet for €50 at the Carpet Mills on Thomas Street. The sale was made by Joseph Eustace and delivery was made to 17 Richmond Cottages days later. The old carpet was discarded until she could find a way to dispose of it.

It is probable that Kathleen knew that although the body parts had been found, the team had still not managed to identify the victim. And no one suspected a thing.

She may have thought that she could, by then, relax. However, witnesses reported that she continued to say that Noor had left her. Around this time, she rang Ali Suleiman Abdulaziz, another friend of Noor’s, enquiring about him. When Abdulaziz asked her if Noor was still living with her, she refused to say anything, and hung up.

No one thought for a moment that Noor had been killed, but Abdulaziz began to think he may be in trouble. Out of concern, he rang Kathleen three or four days later. Abdulaziz told gardaí that when he asked if Noor had returned, she said, ‘Ali, I’m finished with Farah.’

Chapter Four

‘Everything that deceives may be said to enchant.’

-
Plato

Perhaps the greatest,
yet an unforeseen problem, encountered by Mangan and the detective team was the general assumption that Noor had been murdered as part of a ritual sacrifice.

Noor’s death had had a powerful impact on the citizens of Dublin, if not the entire country. The details of how the body had been dismembered—that the head could not be found—created a moral dilemma for the investigators. The last thing they wanted the public to believe was that this was an unsolvable crime, or a killing that didn’t concern them. In this regard, the team could not reveal any clues that might insinuate this was a ritual killing. In truth, they had no idea what had happened. And the inquiries were further complicated by the fact that witnesses started to present themselves to the team, stating categorically, that the killing was ritual. At one stage, the team were told by one witness that a killer had come to Ireland, performed the ritual, then returned to Africa. The fact that the head had still not been located appeared to support this theory, although the team figured it was just as likely that whoever was responsible wanted them to think it was a ritual killing.

Mangan, though, decided that no one would be drawn into any line of specific inquiry, although the team knew they could not discount the ritual sacrifice theory. He was of the opinion that the public would ignore their pleas for help if they thought this was a matter involving immigrants. The truth was that no one, certainly in Ireland, knew anything about ritual killing, black magic or the occult for that matter.

They were also aware of the possible backlash if they attempted to explore this line of inquiry without proper advice; it would open a Pandora’s Box of justified criticism. This is why they chose to approach experts in the field.

Through the offices of the international liaison department in Garda Headquarters, Mangan approached Superintendent Gerard Labuschagne of the Ritual Killing Unit of the South African Police Force in Pretoria. Through official channels, the team passed the specific details on the killing to the South African Police, who examined the paperwork with a keen interest.

In sanctioned correspondence, Labuschagne’s officials began to dictate what their Irish counterparts needed to bear in mind, if they were indeed investigating a
muti
killing. In many ways, this was a turning point in the investigation: their advice was not to accept anything at face value.

To the detectives on the torso in the canal team; it was hard to imagine killings that involved the abduction, murder and dismemberment of a victim with the aim of obtaining body parts for use in traditional medicine. In contrast to their own expectations, they were told that such killings took place in the darkest of subterfuge.
Muti
murders were not hastily arranged, but carefully planned; they had to be.

The consensus reached by the South African Police was that the gardaí were probably not dealing with
muti
, or certainly not a true ritual killing carried out by someone with knowledge of
muti
. If it had been, other parts of the body, not just the head and penis, would have been harvested. In
muti
, body parts of victims were sometimes eaten, drunk or smeared on the person wishing to avail of the victim’s powers. Therefore, if the killers were
muti
killers, it was logical to assume they either wanted to become more intelligent or increase their sexual prowess.

The advice received from South Africa, however, showed that
muti
killings, almost always, involved the harvesting of organs while the victim was alive. The reason for this was simple: practitioners of human sacrifice believe the screams of their victims make the
muti
more powerful.

The experts did concede that some elements of the canal case seemed to point to
muti
. Typically the victim’s of
muti
were disembowelled, and body parts were removed from the inside of the body as well as, in most cases, the genitalia.

The three cuts in the torso’s back were also similar to those found on
muti
victims.

There was yet another factor that had to be considered. Britain had experienced
muti
killings. In 2001, the Metropolitan Police in London found a torso in the Thames River. The subsequent inquiry revealed the torso to be that of a young, African boy who had been murdered. The investigation never discovered the true identity of the boy but named the child ‘Adam’. That particular inquiry led to West Africa and the arrests of scores of people across Europe, including Ireland, but the killer was never located.

However, some of the techniques used in the ‘Adam’ investigation were adopted by the Dublin team.

In London, a technique called Isotope Analysis was used to establish the nationality of the dead boy. This involved testing samples from his intestines to reconstruct diet, and oxygen isotopes to determine geographic origin. The Garda were keen to do the same as, although they now knew the victim was black, they still had no idea where he came from or who the victim was. For this task, they hired the services of a forensic geologist in Belfast called Dr Auguestin. His techniques were similar to those used to test bone recovered from archaeological sites. These could be analysed isotopically for information regarding diet and migration while sometimes tooth enamel and soil clinging to remains could also be used in isotope analysis.

In theory, it was possible to at least identify the victim’s country of origin, but in practice it was a less than exact science.

Mangan had hoped he might get a breakthrough using this technique; though he was soon to learn that fortune was to pay him a favour. Two witnesses had come forward.

*****

On Monday, 9 May, some six weeks after the body parts had first been discovered in the canal, Noor’s friend from Kismayu, Mohammed Ali Abu Bakaar read an article a newspaper called
The Street Journal
. That he was reading the article was a chance occurrence. The story in question told of how the dismembered remains of a black male had been found in the Royal Canal.

The article quoted Mangan talking about the investigation, how the body had been found, and the urgent need for help.

The article in itself didn’t attract Bakaar’s interest; he merely glanced at the contents. What did was the photograph that accompanied it. It showed a white Ireland football jersey, the same type of jersey he had seen his friend Farah Noor wearing during the St Patrick’s weekend celebrations. The more Bakaar read, the more he became concerned, though initially he didn’t panic. Noor had been in the company of his girlfriend, Kathleen. If anything had happened; surely she would have reported him missing.

As a precaution more than anything else, he tried to call Noor on his mobile phone, but the line was disconnected. He thought this was strange. He then inquired among members of the Somali community living in Dublin. No one had heard from Noor for some time.

When he spoke to Deirdre Hyland, the woman who had also met Noor on O’Connell Street in March, she too became anxious.

Like everyone else, the two had heard about the grotesque killing but they did not wish to waste police time. The two were calm and lucid, and thought about what best to do.

Rather than call the incident room directly, Hyland called a cousin in the Garda who passed on their concerns to Fitzgibbon Street. This was the first breakthrough in the torso in the canal case.

When the team heard that two witnesses had come forward, they became excited. The information, though, took on a fresh urgency once Mangan was discreetly informed the potential victim had been seen wearing an Irish soccer jersey. Two detectives—Malachy Dunne and Patrick Flood—were immediately sent to interview the witnesses about what they had seen.

By this stage, other people from the immigrant community had also become concerned for Noor. Another friend of his, Mohammed Ali Noor, had come forward to say he had also met him around St Patrick’s Day and he read the newspaper articles. He too had expressed his concerns to a mutual friend, Rashid Omar Ahmed, and asked him to inquire around Dublin and Cork to see if anyone had seen Noor. None had.

But it was Bakaar’s information that proved to be of particular value. He recalled meeting his old fishing friend with a woman he named as Katherine, who was his long term girlfriend.

His recollection of the day he met Noor, the conversation they shared, and specifically the clothes he had been wearing, were clearly accurate. The more the detectives heard, the more convinced they were that they had the right man.

Mangan was inclined to agree.

Hours after the initial contact with Bakaar was made, a member of the team conducted a cursory check on the Garda intelligence system: PULSE. This yielded more information; Noor was already known to them. Although he had been convicted for some public order offences, this didn’t interest them.

It was information pertaining to the murder of Raonaid Murray, a 16-year-old girl found stabbed to death near her home in Dun Laoghaire, which caused them to wonder; not alone had Noor been nominated as a possible killer; he had been formally interviewed.

The catalogue of intelligence on the missing man made interesting reading. It gave specific information on Noor, detailing his past acquaintances, arrival in Ireland, personal history and habits.

Noor had first arrived in Ireland on 30 December 1996. In early January 1997, he lodged an application for refugee status with the Department of Justice in the name of Farah Swaleh Noor.

In his dealings with officials, he claimed to have been born in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on 2 July 1967, where he worked as a fisherman with the Department of Fisheries in Kismayu. This particular piece of information corroborated Bakaar’s story, further strengthening his information.

The reason for his flight to Ireland had been apparently straightforward. He said he had a wife and three children who had been murdered during the civil war that had engulfed Somalia.

In his dealings with the Department of Justice, he specifically mentioned that he’d found his wife shot dead, causing him to flee to Kenya.

The story continued. His file stated that he had lived in Kenya for five years before he agreed to pay an agent $1,600 to get him on board a flight to Europe.

Officials from the Department of Justice had called him for interview on 2 June 1998. On that occasion, he spoke through an interpreter, though it was clear he could speak English when he wanted to. In that interview, he said he had no idea where his family were, and no idea how to find his parents. The drama of the story didn’t end there. He next answered a series of questions on the political situation in Somalia and stated that he was terrified of returning home, saying he would be killed by guerrillas if forced to leave Ireland. It was noted that he spoke convincingly about life in a refugee camp, the political situation that consumed Somalia, and the effects this had on his family.

The intelligence information intrigued the team. The story was one of heroic bravery in the face of adversity. He had also claimed he was forced to flee from Kenya because he was a member of an ethnic minority, the Bajun. When the opportunity to flee came, he took it, because he had no other choice.

The file noted that Noor was further interviewed on 17 September that same year, again through an interpreter. On this occasion, he showed his interviewers faded scars that appeared on his wrist, which he said were caused after he was assaulted by a group of bandits or soldiers.

This time, none of the officials believed his story. On 15 December his application for refugee status was rejected on the grounds that he was lying. He was informed of this decision on 2 February 1999, but he didn’t accept the decision.

Nine days later, he lodged an appeal and was re-interviewed on 3 June 1999. Some three weeks later, the Appeals Authority recommended that he be allowed to stay. It was a good result for Noor, considering the fact that he wasn’t even a Somali.

The story had been a tissue of lies; Noor was in fact a Kenyan. He had lied about his nationality, and even the death of his wife and children, to gain political asylum.

*****

While the details of his asylum process gave the investigation an insight into the potential victim, it was the contact name of a past girlfriend that held the key to solving the crime. This woman had been forced to contact the Garda in fear of her life. This fact was in itself not important; it was her son, or more specifically, his DNA.

The woman in question had previously been in a relationship with Noor. According to the realms of intelligence on PULSE, Noor had threatened her, forcing her to seek protection.

The inquiry team wasted no time in trying to locate this potential witness.

On 20 May, two officers called out to the woman’s home in south Dublin having spent hours trying to track her down. Like everyone else, she had watched the news bulletins on the grim discovery of the body parts, but thought nothing more of it. The visit of two detectives caught her by surprise, as she would later recall:

‘I was at home one day and two gardaí came to the door. They had a picture of an Ireland jersey and asked if Farah ever wore clothes like it. I said he did.

‘At that point, and I still remember it to this day, one of them said, “We think it may be him.” I froze because I just knew it was him. I just knew. I was shocked. I suppose it was the manner in which he was killed.’

The purpose of the visit was to take some DNA samples from her son, to confirm the identification of Noor. This was the only accurate way of determining for sure whether Noor had been killed. She consented immediately but her heart told her that Noor was already dead. ‘I had a gut feeling,’ she said.

When she recovered from the initial shock, she spoke freely about her relationship with Noor. She had perhaps known him more intimately than anyone else.