Man (19) held after woman found dead in Kerry

Gardaí are today expected to begin a murder inquiry following the completion of a postmortem examination on the body of a woman found in a house in north Kerry yesterday morning.

The body of the woman, named locally as Susan Dunne, was found by a neighbour shortly before 10am in a bedroom of the bungalow she shared with her son, Patrick (19), at Ballinageragh, Lixnaw, around 12km from Listowel.

Gardaí were notified and went to the scene.

After a local GP pronounced Ms Dunne dead, the scene was cordoned off and gardaí requested the services of the State Pathologist's Office to carry out a preliminary examination at the scene and a postmortem.

Serious injuries

Assistant State pathologist, Dr Margaret Bolster arrived at the scene shortly after 5pm and carried out a preliminary examination on Ms Dunne’s body at the house.

Her remains were then removed to Kerry General Hospital in Tralee.

It is understood that Ms Dunne, who was in her early 50s and separated, had suffered a number of serious injuries, including to the head, when she was found in the house, which is down a quiet boreen around 2km from Lixnaw village.

Gardaí later arrested a 19-year-old man in connection with Ms Dunne's death and he was brought to Listowel Garda station where he was last night being held under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.

Autism Action

Ms Dunne, who is understood to have been born in the UK, was chairperson of

Kerry Autism Action and was described as a real driving force behind the charity for which she raised funds and helped people obtain services for children with autism.

“Susan was a very private person but she put her whole life and soul into helping families of children with autism, helping them to access services and giving them advice on schools as well as legal issues - she was just so helpful,” said an informed source.

“She was totally devoted to her son, Patrick, and he was totally devoted to her,” said the source, adding that news of her death had been greeted with shock and dismay by all involved in autism and special needs services in Kerry.

Local Lixnaw parish priest, Fr Maurice Brick, who was called to the scene at about 1.30pm and administered the last rites to Ms Dunne, last night spoke of the terrible sense of shock in the community at the news of the tragedy.

'Numbed everybody'

“This is a rural community where people are very tightly knit and they look out for each other, particularly for their neighbours. The events of today have numbed everybody and people are trying to support one another,” said Fr Brick.

Fr Brick said Ms Dunne was her son Patrick’s “soulmate, minder and carer, which added to the pathos of the situation” and he revealed that he would be asking for prayers for Ms Dunne and her family at Mass last night in Lixnaw.