Man who shot own sister dead injured in slash attack at Brandon Ledwidge funeral reception

Gardai have recovered the wheel brace used in the vicious assault outside the pub at Quarry Road.

The violence kicked off after a row among mourners who had earlier attended the funeral of gangland shooting victim Brandon Ledwidge.

Convicted killer Derek Boyd (29) suffered non- life threatening injuries in the melee in which it is understood that a wheel brace was produced by his attacker as a number of people left the pub.

He suffered slash injuries while another man suffered more serious head injuries.

No arrests have been made in the case which is being investigated by Mountjoy Garda Station.

“It was a row among people that had been at the funeral rather than some other entity attacking them,” a senior source said this morning.

Boyd and the other man who is from Cabra are still being treated at the Mater Hospital this morning where public order incidents unfolded last night after they were admitted to hospital.

Last December he was jailed for two years for killing his sister Sandra Boyd, a mother of five - through an accidental discharge of an illegally-held loaded semi-automatic pistol in March of last year.

The court heard he had sourced the semi-automatic pistol and live rounds of ammunition because he was concerned for his own and his family’s safety as a result of a threats made to him.

Boyd had been in custody since he shot his sister on March 19, at his home in Collins Place, Finglas last year and because of standard remission he was released from jail earlier this year.

Ledwidge, the first gangland shooting victim of 2023, was shot several times as he answered the door of his home on Barry Drive at around 7pm on Saturday, November 18.

Finglas village came to a standstill yesterday as relatives carried his silver-grey casket to the church as young men and teenagers performed wheelies and noisy burnouts on motorbikes, spinning the back wheels so fast that the tyres smoked.

Despite an obvious garda presence, bikes were wheelied up and down the street before and after the funeral mass.

One of the symbols of Ledwidge’s life brought to the altar was a motorbike helmet.

He is survived by his parents Sabrina and John, siblings Byron, Ellie, Kaci and Daryl, his girlfriend, and extended family and friends.

Many mourners wore T-shirts with Mr Ledwidge’s photo printed on it, and some female mourners wore red ribbons and bows in their hair.

In a tribute read by a cousin, his sister Kaci said he played a big part in everyone’s life.

“We are all absolutely heartbroken. A lot of memories were made, and a lot more memories should have been made. You were the life and soul of every party, always with a smile on your face no matter what,” she wrote, adding that he was not without “a big fat joint in your mouth and a hammer in your pocket”.

“We will miss everything about you. You loved a good trip to Amsterdam and Tenerife. We will miss seeing your face and hearing your voice around the house and everywhere you were and coming in saying ‘Ma, what’s for dinner. I’m starving?’,” she added.

“We will miss your laugh, your smile, your jokes, your loving and caring ways,” she explained, adding that he could be found at all hours of the morning with “a bottle of fast gas and a balloon in his mouth with a bottle of vodka.”

His sister added: “You took a big chunk of our hearts with you. You were a party animal. You loved a good party and the drink. You were stone mad and made of steel.”

A cousin of Mr Ledwidge said they were always together like peas in a pod. “You wouldn’t see one without the other. You were the big brother I never had,” he said to applause.

During his homily, Fr Richard Hyland made reference to the Gospel, saying Jesus said we will be judged on the care we have for each other, and we are to give that care to everyone, no matter whom they are or where they come from.

“You reap what you sow. If you sow badness, you get badness back. If you sow goodness, you get goodness back,” he added.

After Requiem Mass, burial took place in Glasnevin Cemetery.