The State Pathologist will resume her post mortem on the body of murdered schoolboy Robert Holohan this morning after her examination yesterday proved inconclusive. Barry Roche, Southern Correspondent, reports from Cork
Dr Cassidy spent six hours working on an autopsy on Robert's body at Cork University Hospital last night but initial tests to establish the cause of death were inconclusive and the post-mortem will resume at 9am today.
The Irish Times has learned that his body was wrapped in black plastic bags before being dumped. Gardai are still hoping that the post-mortem will still throw some light on how long Robert's body was at the scene though they are of the belief it may have been there for several days rather than just a day or two.
Gardai are increasingly inclined to the belief that Robert's killer may be local to East Cork. Yesterday they recovered Robert's missing Nokia 3200 mobile phone with his clothed body. The body was caught on vegetation some 14 feet into a deep glen at Glanturkin near Inch Strand by Whitegate.
Assistant Commissioner Tony Hickey said that Gardai currently had over 30 people who "could loosely be termed suspects" based primarily on visual sightings though he conceded that many of these may turn out be simply witnesses in the case.
"There are people we require to trace, people we require to interview, people we require to eliminate and we have a located and eliminated quite a number of people," said Assistant Commissioner Hickey.
Assistant Commissioner Hickey said that while the Garda investigation was initially classified as a missing person's inquiry because there was no evidence of abduction, it nonetheless received the same resources from the outset as a homicide or any other serious crime.
Chief Supt Kieran McGann of Cork North Division revealed that some 100 Gardai have been involved in the inquiry to date with 50 detectives currently working on the criminal investigation following up to close to 1,000 lines of inquiry.
He said that Gardai are still seeking to speak to a number of people including two golfers at East Cork Golf Club, a man seen in Egan's Field near Water Rock and a man seen in a red van at Curragh Wood all on 4 January.
Chief Supt McGann also appealed to the public for info rmation on a number of vehicles including a black jeep, a silver grey jeep and three white vans all seen in the Ballyedmond area on the day Robert disappeared as well as any suspicious activity in the Inch area.
Supt Liam Hayes said people were bound to be fearful because of what had happened to Robert but he urged people to come forward with as much info rmation as possible so that Gardai can apprehend whoever is responsible as quickly as possible.
The search which found Robert's body followed work with mobile phone service providers after a telephone mast in Crosshaven on the other side of Cork Harbour pinpointed Inch as a possible site for Robert's mobile.
Assistant Commsioner Hickey also confirmed that Gardai have liaised with police forces in the UK and Belgium though Garda sources last night indicated that these inquiries were primarily of a routine and precautionary nature.
Robert's parents Mark and Majella were said to be "remarkably strong" despite their grief. Yesterday afternoon they received a phonecall of sympathy from the President, Mary McAleese.