Gardaí in Dublin were continuing to question a man last night about the murder of a 48-year-old woman whose body was found in her Blackrock home on Saturday afternoon.
A postmortem confirmed that the victim, Regina O'Connor, died as a result of a serious assault.
Gardaí said a man in his 20s was arrested yesterday in connection with her death and is being detained at Blackrock Garda station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984.
Ms O'Connor lived at Castlebyrne Park, Newtownpark Avenue, Blackrock, and a team from the Garda Technical Bureau were conducting a forensic examination at her home yesterday.
The murdered woman, who had one son, was a keen gardener, sowing both flowers and vegetables in the garden of her Blackrock home.
She was originally from Rwanda where she grew up on a large farm. She later moved to Kenya where she met her future husband, Irishman Andrew O'Connor. She moved to Ireland in 1986 and he died in 1994.
She suffered kidney failure a number of years ago and since then had been on dialysis and was awaiting a kidney transplant. Her illness prompted her to get involved in fundraising for the Irish Kidney Association and she held an annual plant sale for the association.
Once she became ill, friends and neighbours helped her with her gardening. "The garden has shown me how good my neighbours are, and how wonderful the friends are that I have," she told The Irish Times when it featured a piece on her garden two years ago in the gardening column.
A woman who knew her last night described her as "the most beautiful person".
"She was just full of love and always had a big hug and a big smile.
"She had a lot of friends. This is just horrendous," she said.
The State pathologist, Prof Marie Cassidy, conducted a postmortem examination on the woman's body on Saturday evening, the results of which confirmed she died as a result of a serious assault, the Garda press office said.
It added that investigations are ongoing and an incident room has been set up at Blackrock Garda station. Anyone with information should phone 01-6665200.