Leaving Cert student arrested in connection with death of Qayyum Balogun

A Leaving Cert student has been arrested in relation to the murder of Qayyum Balogun in Dublin City centre. Detectives are investigating if the 17-year-old suspect was involved in assaulting the victim before he was stabbed to death. The suspect is currently sitting his Leaving Certificate exams and was arrested today after finishing his Mathematics exam. He can be quizzed for up to 24 hours and is the third person to be detained as part of the probe.

One man has already appeared in court for offences connected to the investigation. On Tuesday, a woman, who is the partner of a chief suspect in the probe, was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. She was later released without charge. Confirming Friday’s arrest, a Garda spokesperson said: “Gardaí in Pearse Street continue to investigate a fatal assault which occurred on Clarendon Street, Dublin 2 in the early hours of Monday 1st June, 2026. “Today, Friday 5th June 2026, a male juvenile (aged in his mid-teens) was arrested in connection with the investigation. “He is currently detained pursuant to Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 at a Garda Station in the Dublin area. “Investigations are ongoing” On Thursday, the Irish Independent revealed how the chief suspect in the Dublin city centre murder of Mr Balogun gloated about the fatal stabbing online within hours of the crime.

The violent criminal, who has since fled to the UK, posted messages on social media in which he made references to the murder in the immediate aftermath of Mr Balogun being stabbed to death. In one message he said, “wats (sic) a body to me” and “rest in piss” before fleeing the country and travelling over to the UK. He also continued to post videos on social media the following day but has since scrubbed most of his online presence. Gardaí want to quiz the suspect, who is on bail for a vicious stabbing, over the knife murder of Qayyum Balogun who was stabbed several times on Clarendon Street in Dublin 2 in the early hours of Monday morning.

Bystander footage has also captured the suspect armed with a knife and running up a nearby street shortly before the fatal attack.Significant evidence has also been recovered from an AirBnb rental property in Dublin 4 where a number of persons allegedly involved in the violence stayed after the murder. Members of the Garda Technical Bureau carried out examinations of the house on Tuesday with blood stained clothing recovered from the scene. Gardaí have issued a nationwide alert about the suspect being sought in connection with the stabbing, but he is believed to have taken a ferry to the UK a short time after the murder. He is well-known to gardaí for involvement in assaults while he is also charged before the courts with a stabbing in the south of the country last year.

Detectives suspect a large number of people were involved in the violence that night with efforts ongoing to identify everyone involved. Qayyum Balogun was chased down and stabbed several times on Clarendon Street at around 3am on Monday morning. The Maynooth university student had been attending a rap gig at Bewley’s on Grafton Street when an altercation occurred which escalated into a violent brawl on the street. Mr Balogun attempted to flee the violence by exiting the club through a side door but was followed around 100m onto Clarendon Street where he was stabbed several times including once in the chest and pronounced dead a short time later in hospital.