Gardaí investigating the murder of Iarnród Éireann employee Ian Walsh in Co Tipperary have arrested a teenager for questioning.
The teenager was arrested by officers in Carrick-on-Suir early on Wednesday. He was taken to Clonmel Garda station for questioning.
He is being detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, which allows gardaí to hold suspects for up to 24 hours before they must be charged or released.
The arrest comes as gardaí focused on Mr Walsh’s social media activity and began examining if he had possibly met his killer online and arranged to meet them at his home in at Ravenswood off Cregg Road in Carrick-on-Suir.
READ MORE
Gardaí believe the fact that there was no sign of forced entry at Mr Walsh’s house suggests that Mr Walsh either knew his killer or felt no threat from them when he admitted them to his property.
Mr Walsh (49), a single man who lived alone, was found dead at about 3.30am on Monday, August 4th, by gardaí carrying out a welfare check at the two-storey property. They had been contacted by Ms Walsh’s family who were concerned for his welfare.
A native of Waterford, Mr Walsh used to travel to Waterford city a couple of times a week to visit his mother, Breda Forristal, at her home on Barrack Street. When he failed to visit over the bank holiday weekend, family members became concerned and contacted gardaí.
His body was found in the downstairs bathroom of the semidetached house in Ravenswood. Mr Walsh had suffered multiple stab wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.
State Pathologist Dr Yvonne McCartney carried out a postmortem on Mr Walsh’s body at University Hospital Waterford on August 6th. It concluded he had been the victim of a violent assault with a bladed weapon sometime over the bank holiday weekend.
Garda technical experts spent several days carrying out a forensic examination of the house which investigators are hoping will yield DNA and other evidence to identify Mr Walsh’s killer and build a case against them.
