A Garda investigation into the gangland murder of Eric Fowler in the driveway of his west Dublin home four years ago is nearing completion, an inquest has said.
Inspector Liam Donoghue told a hearing in the Dublin District Coroner’s Court that a case file related to Mr Fowler’s murder was expected to be ready within the next four weeks.
However, it is clear that no one is likely to face criminal charges as a result of the deadly shooting.
Mr Fowler, 34, died after being ambushed by one or more gunmen who shot him multiple times, including once in the head, when he got out of his car after returning to his home on December 22, 2018 Blakestown Cottages, Coolmine.
A car believed to have been used by his killers as a getaway vehicle was found burnt out a short distance off Rusheeney Green, in Clonsilla.
Mr. Fowler had ties to the Kinahan cartel, although he had family ties that linked him to both sides of the Hutch-Kinahan feud.
He is believed to have been the 18th victim of the deadly feud between the two criminal gangs that began with the 2015 murder of Gary Hutch in Spain by the Kinahan.
The father of two had been investigated for his suspected role in organized crime before his death, but he had never been charged with a serious crime.
Mr Fowler, who ran a car wash and valet service business near his home in Coolmine, had been warned at least twice by Gardaí that his life was in danger.
Insp Donoghue requested that the inquest into the death be postponed by the coroner, Aisling Gannon.
He told the court, attended by the victim’s mother, Therese, that he expected to be able to schedule a date for the full hearing of the inquest into Mr Fowler’s death when the case comes up for discussion in October.
Last year, Mr Fowler’s father, Stephen, was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for his role in the Kinahan cartel’s attempted murder of rival Hutch gang member, James “Mago” Gately.
Fowler, 62, was convicted by the non-jury, Special Criminal Court after he pleaded guilty to a single charge of having knowledge of a criminal organization and increasing its ability to commit a serious criminal offense namely the murder of James Gately, on dates between December 7, 2016 and April 4, 2017.
The court heard that Fowler had picked up an Estonian hitman, Imre Arakas, who had been brought to Ireland to kill Gately, from a hotel in central Dublin and taken him to his home in Blakestown Cottages, where both men were arrested.