LATVIAN cops are aiding gardai in the hunt for a gang who hacked a man to death with a machete.

Two of the suspects in the horrific murder of dad-of-two Mikolaj Wilk are hiding out somewhere between Latvia and Lithuania.

However, as gardai do not yet have enough evidence to gain a European Arrest Warrant, Latvian authorities are helping by searching for the pair for other offences so they can be taken in for questioning.

Gardener Mr Wilk, 35, was attacked in front of his wife and kids after the front door of his home in Ballincollig, Co Cork, was kicked in on June 10.

He died as a result of injuries received from multiple blows with the machete.

The dead man’s wife Elzbieta was also seriously injured but their two kids, aged three and five, were physically unharmed.

Latvian State Police representative Elina Sprudzane revealed that her organisation “have cooperated with the Irish police in this context”.

And gardai have also received significant assistance from Interpol and Europol, as well as the law enforcement authorities of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

A motive for the crime has yet to be established, although theories include a row over a debt.

The attack was so brutal that more than a dozen gardai who worked the crime scene received counselling afterwards.

Following the horrific murder, Elzbieta returned to her native Poland with her children and Mikolaj’s body and vowed never to return to Ireland.