Man held for questioning on Tullamore stabbing death

A FRIEND of a woman who was stabbed more than 40 times in a fatal attack was last night being questioned by gardaí about the murder.

The man, who is the chief suspect, was found with a number of wounds at the scene of the murder of Brazilian woman Joselita da Silva (33), a mother of three, in an apartment in Tullamore, Co Offaly, last Thursday. He was arrested but was immediately brought to hospital, meaning gardaí were not in a position to question him.

He was taken to the Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore with superficial wounds to his hands, neck and stomach.

He has since been released and is now being detained at Tullamore Garda station for questioning about the murder.

The suspect, a Brazilian man in his 30s, is believed to have suffered his injuries during the fatal attack on Ms da Silva. He has been living in Ireland for seven years.

The suspect and Ms da Silva were friends, but are not believed to have been involved in a romantic relationship.

Ms da Silva, who was separated, lived in an apartment off Tara Street, Tullamore, where she was found dead last Thursday evening.

The incident took place at the apartment, which is just off High Street, at about 7pm. Emergency services arrived on the scene at about 7.15pm after the alarm was raised by a third party. Ms da Silva’s body was removed from the apartment following a preliminary examination by Assistant State Pathologist Khaled Jaber.

A full postmortem was carried out at Tullamore Regional Hospital. It revealed that Ms da Silva had been stabbed more than 40 times, mostly in the upper body. Gardaí have recovered a kitchen knife that they believe is the murder weapon.

Ms da Silva came from the small town of Pires do Rio in central Brazil. She had been living in Ireland for about three years with her 17-year-old son. She had come here to start a new life and had left her two younger children with family in Brazil.

She had been due to fly home to collect her two other teenage children, boys aged 16 and 13, this week.

Friends of the dead woman last week told The Irish Times that she had planned to settle in Ireland long-term with her children.