GARDAÍ ARE WAITING for forensic tests on a knife discovered near the scene of the fatal stabbing of Qayyum Balogun to determine if it is linked to the killing, sources have said.

The blade was found by gardaí in searches of the area close to the murder scene on Clarendon Street, near Grafton Street in Dublin city centre.

The knife will be tested for Forensic Science Ireland for DNA traces from the victim and the perpetrator. 

Sources have said that gardaí have also identified a chief suspect who they believe was directly involved in the incident.  

This suspect, who is known to gardaí and has a history of violence, lives in Ireland but may have fled the country in recent days.  

A number of other people are believed to have been involved in the incident. 

Sources have said that gardaí are receiving significant assistance from witnesses who were at the event where the initial fight broke out, which then spilled out onto a nearby street. 

The eyewitness accounts have helped investigators to build a picture of what happened. 

The Journal has learned that gardaí have also identified a location on the southside of the city where the attackers returned to after they killed Qayyum Balogun. The suspects had rented the property overnight.

Sources said there is a large volume of evidence, including blood, found at that scene. 

Qayyum Balogun (21), was originally from Nigeria but had been living in Ireland for a number of years. He had been living in Louth but was attending college in Maynooth studying a computer science degree. 

He had been attending a late-night concert by the singer Famous Pluto in Bewley’s on Grafton Street before he was attacked.

The young man was pronounced dead at St James’s Hospital after being found by emergency services suffering from stab wounds on nearby Clarendon Sreet at around 3am on Monday morning.