THE FATHER of the man who was killed in a hit-and-run incident in Dublin has paid a heartbroken tribute as Gardaí continue the hunt for his killers.
Thiago Cortes, 28, a Deliveroo cyclist, had just made a delivery when he was was struck by a car on North Wall Quay at around 10.30pm on Monday night.
He received catastrophic injuries in the incident and passed away at around 9am yesterday morning when his life support machine was switched off.
The car was located a short while later, abandoned at Castleforbes Square, and was found to have no tax, insurance or NCT.
Gardaí have launched an investigation and are searching for the four occupants of the car, with the driver, believed to be a minor, understood to have been identified by police.
Thiago Cortes's father, Celso, yesterday wrote an emotional and heartbroken post on Facebook where he paid tribute to his son, who he described as his "most precious asset".
Writing in Portugese, Mr Cortes wrote "It will be impossible to forget the day they stole my most precious asset from me.
"Today my dear son passed away... death took him so unexpectedly.
Gardaí are appealing for any witnesses to the incident which killed Thiago Cortes to come forward"It's hard to face this reality when it's about someone so young, with so many things still to live for. But life has never been fair and I will try to be attached every day to the best memories so that a little peace can invade my heart.
"Rest in peace my dear son, someday we will meet again."
Demonstrators took the streets of Dublin yesterday for a vigil and march in honour of Mr Cortes, with fellow Deliveroo employees, members of Ireland's Brazilian community and locals wishing to pay their respects becoming involved.
The march took mourners down O'Connell street, past the Spire and to the North Wall Quay to the scene where the 28-year-old Master's student was struck and killed.
Absolutely huge crowd at the Spire for the vigil for Thiago Cortes, who was killed on Monday night by a driver on North Wall Quay. pic.twitter.com/QX3CnDgz7I
— Joan // Stay apart, Mask up (@clicky_here) September 2, 2020
One Brazilian woman, Anna, told Dublin Live that the community is stunned by his death and that the occupants of the vehicle have not come forward.
"For us it's such a shock to see someone should come to Ireland to follow his dreams and then he just something like this happens," she said. "It's very hard for us."
Mr Cortes's fianceé, Teresa Oliveira, spoke to The Irish Independent where she pleaded with his killers to come forward, asking them to "be brave and admit to what you did".
"How do you sleep at night?" she asked.
"Thiago is not coming back. I don't sleep. His family don't sleep. His friends don't sleep.
"Hand yourself in to Gardaí and serve what you have to serve."
Gardaí are understood to have identified the driver of the car-- a juvenile-- after "excellent quality" CCTV footage was recovered from the scene, according to The Irish Independent.
There is no further information available at this time.
