Gardai alert for revenge after botched gangster hit

 

GARDAI were on high alert as gangster David Goulding walks out of hospital today -- 48 hours after surviving an attempted hit. Armed garda patrols were increased in west Dublin this weekend after the notorious hood was released from James Connolly Memorial Hospital. Crime kingpin Goulding (32) had a miracle escape when he was blasted six times at close range as he sat in a car in Hartstown on Wednesday evening. Despite being hit six times the criminal escaped serious injury. Gardai are now probing whether Goulding was targeted by former associates in the botched hit, which has raised gangland tensions in west Dublin. Some of the criminal's henchmen are now expected to take revenge for the assassination attempt, which is linked to at least two shooting incidents last year. Sources say that there has been a "bitter falling out" among members of the west Dublin crew to which Goulding is now linked. Goulding is expected to be released from Connolly Memorial Hospital in Blanchardstown today, where he has been under armed garda protection while being treated for non life-threatening injuries. Along with his brother Daniel (27), David Goulding was a member of the notorious Westies mob that terrorised parts of west Dublin in the late 1990s. When the Westies mob imploded, the Goulding brothers linked up with the notorious Glennon brothers who were murdered as part of the gang warfare in 2005. After the deaths of the Glennons, David Goulding became very close to the crew that was led by murdered gangster Michael 'Micka' Kelly, also known as 'The Panda'. He was also strongly linked to the slain crimelord Eamonn 'The Don' Dunne. In February 2009, Goulding was jailed for three years for interfering with the principal prosecution witness in an attempted murder trial. At a court hearing in July, 2010, it emerged that on the day that murdered crime figure John Paul Joyce went missing, Joyce went to hand over a BMW car's logbook to David Goulding. Mr Joyce's body was found near Dublin Airport two days after he had last been seen. During the hearing at Dublin District Court, Goulding's partner Karen Duffy claimed Joyce sold the Northern Ireland-registered car to her and her partner David Goulding for €7,000 and they were the legal owners of the vehicle. Ms Duffy said she and Goulding paid cash for the car, and she had the car keys and the logbook and was insured to drive it. However, the court found that the State could keep the car while garda investigations were being carried out into the murder of John Paul Joyce.