A 31-YEAR-OLD man suspected of killing two women and two young children at a house in Co Limerick was back in Garda custody last night.
Postmortem results on the bodies of 25-year-old Sarah Hines, her two children, Reece (3) and Amy (5 months), and their mother’s friend, Alicia Brough (20), have confirmed all four victims were stabbed to death.
The chief suspect for the quadruple murder was back in custody after receiving medical treatment in Cork University Hospital for a hand injury. A Garda spokesman said the time the suspect spent in hospital would be excluded from his period of detention.
The man was arrested in Kilkee, Co Clare, last Tuesday just over two hours after the four bodies were found at a house in the Hazelgrove estate in Newcastle West, Co Limerick. It is understood he travelled to the west Clare seaside town from Limerick city by bus at 5.30pm on Monday evening.
It has emerged he may have dumped some items of clothing in a bin in Limerick before getting on the bus, and searches of public bins have been carried out as part of the massive Garda inquiry, involving 50 officers.
Once in Kilkee the suspect booked into the Stella Maris Hotel under his own name and paid in cash. He stayed alone in the room overnight, and the bedroom was cordoned off by investigating gardaí the following day.
Before his arrest on Tuesday afternoon he sat in the Central Bar in Kilkee and had some drinks while chatting with locals. According to the owner, he asked whether there was a phone box and was directed to a public kiosk on the main square in the town.
“He was very quiet, he didn’t bother anyone, he just sat and had his three or four drinks – then it all happened,” Frank Haugh told the Limerick Leader. “He left for a couple of minutes to make a phone call and came back again and sat there drinking until the gardaí arrived and arrested him,” he recalled.
Kilkee town council staff were directed by gardaí to search bins on the main street after the arrest.
The investigation, including interviewing of witnesses and door-to-door inquiries, is ongoing. A technical examination has started at the house in Newcastle West and will take a number of days to complete. Gardaí have not confirmed whether the murder weapon has been found.
The bodies of the deceased are not likely to be released to their families until today at the earliest.