A FILE is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions following the death of a 16 year old youth in Thurles, Co Tipperary, at the weekend.
This was the second death in Co Tipperary in a week. Last Tuesday, David Nugent (23), was found dead in Clonmel with nine stab wounds. His hands and feet were bound. Last night, gardai were questioning two people in the town about his killing.
The latest death occurred some time after 2 a.m. on Saturday morning, when Mr Denis Mackey left a night club in the centre of Thurles with friends. It is understood that there was a scuffle in a laneway near Liberty Square.
Mr Mackey is thought to have received a blow during the scuffle and fell to the ground unconscious. According to Garda sources, there were no obvious signs of injury when a local doctor tended him on the ground. However, on arrival at Cashel General Hospital he was pronounced dead.
Thurles gardai have conducted extensive inquiries in the town and a number of young people have been questioned. No arrests have been made.
On Saturday, the State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, carried out a post mortem examination but it is expected that the results, will not become available for some time.
Mr Mackey, of Bothair na Naomh, Thurles, was described as a popular young man who enjoyed music. His family runs a public house in Thurles.
Garda sources said that the file now being prepared for the DPP would deal with the circumstances in which he lost his life and how the fracas developed.
Despite the loss of a young life which has shocked people in the Thurles, it is believed that the death did not involve a major public disorder incident.
When a doctor reached the scene near Hayes's Hotel it is understood that Mr Mackey who was unconscious, was still alive. He received emergency treatment in the laneway before an ambulance rushed him to the hospital at Cashel.
Last evening, Father Anthony McSweeney, a curate in Thurles said that people in the town were dismayed at the incident. "In such appalling circumstances there is widespread sympathy for the Mackey family," he added.