Man to be charged in Waterford with murder of mother-of-four

A 28-year-old man is due in court in Waterford on Tuesday morning to be charged with the murder of a mother-of-four whose body was found in a flat in Waterford at the weekend.

The man, a native of Thurles in Co Tipperary, will be charged with the murder of Samantha Walsh (31), whose body was found in a flat at Thomas Court on Thomas Street in the city on Friday.

Preparations are continuing ahead of the woman’s funeral on Tuesday morning.

Detectives investigating the killing of Ms Walsh arrested the man at about 3pm on Sunday.

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He was arrested under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, which allows for detention for up to 24 hours. He was brought to Waterford Garda station in Ballybricken for questioning.

Meanwhile, Ms Walsh, from Central Avenue in Lisduggan, will be buried following requiem Mass at St Paul's Church in Lisduggan at 10am on Tuesday, with burial afterwards in Kilbarry Cemetery.

Emergency call

The body of Ms Walsh was found in a bedroom at the flat at Thomas Court at about 3pm on Friday by paramedics who responded to an emergency call.

They found the body of Ms Walsh in a bedroom and immediately notified gardaí, who cordoned off the scene and began an investigation into the circumstances of her death.

Gardaí had been keeping an open mind on the matter but a postmortem on Saturday afternoon by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis confirmed she had been assaulted.

Detectives have not released the results of Dr Curtis’s postmortem for operational reasons. It is understood Ms Walsh may have been dead for several hours before her body was found.

Ms Walsh, who had lived for short periods in recent years in Mayo and Sligo, had only moved to the accommodation at Thomas Court just over a week before she was found dead there.

Door-to-door inquiries

Gardaí have interviewed others living in flats in the complex and have carried out door-to-door inquiries in the Thomas Street and Ballybricken areas to try to establish when Ms Walsh was last seen alive.

Supt Chris Delaney issued an appeal to the public for assistance - in particular to anyone who was in the Thomas Street area late on Thursday night or early on Friday morning to contact gardaí.

Supt Delaney said gardaí were anxious to speak to anyone who saw or heard anything unusual in the Thomas Street area to contact them at Waterford Garda Station on 051-305300.