Man held after woman (61) killed in Cork

Gardaí

were last night continuing to question a young man about the killing of a woman and a serious assault on her husband at their home in Cork city early yesterday.

The 25-year-old man was arrested following a knife attack on Billy Horgan (68) and his wife, Marian (61), at their home in Murmont Avenue, Montenotte, on the north side of the city.

The attack happened at about 8am in the kitchen area of the couple’s two-story semi-detached house in the quiet residential area just off Old Youghal Road in the city.

It is understood that Mr Horgan was upstairs in bed when he heard a disturbance and came down to the kitchen to find that there was a man there and that his wife had been stabbed.

He was then attacked by the man but he managed to flee from the house and was spotted by a neighbour.

Another neighbour also saw Mr Horgan being pursued by the assailant and the two neighbours managed to disarm the man and detain him until gardaí arrived.

Questioning

The emergency services were also alerted and they attended to Mrs Horgan in the kitchen but a doctor pronounced her dead at the scene.

The man was arrested under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act which allows for detention for up to 24 hours before he has to be charged or released from Garda custody.

The man, who knew both Mr and Mrs Horgan, was taken to nearby Mayfield Garda station, where detectives were last night continuing to question him about the assaults.

Postmortem

Meanwhile gardaí from Mayfield, under Supt Mick Comyns, cordoned off the house and requested the services of the State Pathologist’s Office to carry out a postmortem.

Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster completed the postmortem yesterday afternoon at Cork University Hospital and it is understood that her examination confirmed Mrs Horgan died from a number of stab wounds.

Meanwhile, Mr Horgan was taken by ambulance to the Mercy University Hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries before being discharged yesterday afternoon.

Garda technical experts carried out a preliminary examination of the scene of the attack yesterday morning and returned to the scene in the evening to continue their examination.