Woman arrested over death of man in Cork stabbing last March

Gardaí have arrested a 47-year-old woman in Cork city for questioning about the death of a man found with a stab wound in a house in Buttevant in north Cork earlier this year.

Detectives arrested the woman in a house in Ballyphehane on Cork’s southside just before 11am on Thursday morning for questioning about the death of father of six Christy Aherne.

Mr Aherne (61) was found with a stab wound to the upper body in a house at O’Brien Terrace in Buttevant after paramedics were called to the house on the night of March 24th last.

Paramedics found Mr Aherne unconscious on the floor in a downstairs room and they worked to try to resuscitate him but he failed to regain consciousness and was pronounced dead at the scene.

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Mr Aherne’s body was later removed to Cork University Hospital for a post-mortem where Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster confirmed that he had died a violent death.

However, it was unclear how Mr Ahern may have suffered the stab wound and gardaí were awaiting the results of toxicology tests on samples taken at post-mortem to see if they might assist them.

It is understood gardaí have now received the results of the toxicology tests and they suspect Mr Aherne’s wound was not self-inflicted but that he died as a result of an assault by another person.

The woman arrested on Thursday has been taken to Mallow Garda Station where she is being held under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act which allows gardaí to detain suspects for up to 24 hours.

Gardaí believe Mr Aherne was assaulted in the house by someone known to him as there was no sign of forced entry at the two storey house.

Garda technical examiners recovered a number of knives found at the scene and these were later sent for forensic examination to see if they might shed some light on who attacked Mr Aherne.

Gardaí also harvested CCTV footage from around Buttevant to try to establish Mr Aherne’s movements on the night he was attacked and to identify anyone who may have entered his home that night.

A native of Gurranabraher on Cork’s northside, Mr Aherne, who is survived by his wife and five of his six adult children, had been living at O’Brien Terrace in Buttevant for over five years.