Baiba Saulite, a woman of Latvian origin, was shot to death in front of her home in north Dublin in what police suspect may have been a contract killing. This happened just before 22 pm. Her two sons, Mohammed Rami Hassan (3) and Ali Alexsandre Hassan (5), were asleep upstairs at the time.
Her husband Hassan Hassan, who is in jail for car robbery and awaits sentencing on a charge of abducting his children, will be questioned by police with regard to the incident.
The dead children, who were Irish citizens, were sent to Hassan’s relatives in Syria and Lebanon in December 2004. Later they returned to Ireland.
Their mother, who was 28, was shot twice in the chest and a third time in the arm with a handgun. No evidence connecting the shooting to the kidnapping case is present. Witnesses of the murder said the killer disappeared in a white box-type car, which was driven away by an accomplice.
The police plan to interview her ex-husband to establish if she had any enemies. They are hoping he might help piece together her background.