A YOUNG man remained in Garda custody in Castlebar, Co Mayo, last night after the stabbing to death of a 46-year-old mother of four in her isolated home in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Postmortem tests at Mayo General Hospital on Noreen Kelly Eadon, who was separated from her husband and lived at Derrynacrieve, Islandeady, Castlebar, showed the victim died from multiple stab wounds, including to her head.
The woman’s body was found in her bedroom.
The victim’s 16-year-old son raised the alarm at about 1.40am on Wednesday. At about 8am that morning a 21-year-old man was arrested at a house nearby. The suspect was taken to Castlebar Garda station for questioning.
He was still being held last night.
Gardaí continued their technical examination of the murder scene yesterday, and continued combing the boreen leading to the two-storey dwelling for evidence.
The victim, from Kilmeena, Westport, was known to value her privacy and rarely socialised locally, apart from trips to Castlebar and Westport.
Funeral arrangements will allow her eldest son, Oisín, time to return from Australia. The victim had two other sons, Celyn and Ferdia, and a daughter, Saoirse. All three live in the family home.
It is believed the dead woman knew her assailant.