More than 1,000 people turned out in Dundalk town centre to pay their respects to Japanese national Yosuke Sasaki who murdered in the town on Wednesday morning.
In a moving candlelight tribute the town’s residents gathered to pay tribute to Mr Sasaki who was the victim of an unprovoked attack on the Avenue Road.
The tribute event also seen the Japanese ambassador to Ireland attend to pay their respects to the 24-year-old.
A statement was also read on behalf of Mr Sasaki’s family, in the statement they said the following: “We would like to express our sincere gratitude for the kindness the people of Ireland have shown.
“When he was alive, our son spoke about the warmth of the people of this town and his love of Dundalk.”
“He came to Ireland initially as a language student and only intended a short stay.”
“However, he was touched by the kindness of the Irish people and he decided to work here.”
“As a family, we are truly saddened by what has happened, but we hope that this incident will not give Japanese people a bad impression of Ireland.
“Finally, we hope that a tragic event like this one will never happen in this country again.”