Gardaí are to prepare a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions after last night releasing without charge a man arrested for questioning about the death of a 57-year-old mother of three whose body was found at her home in Midleton in East Cork on Easter Sunday morning.
Detectives arrested the man (46) in the Douglas Street area of Cork city on Monday afternoon and brought him to Midleton for questioning about the murder of Catherine Smart whose body was found at her house in Bailick Court in Midleton at around 9.45am on Sunday
The man was arrested at 4.10pm on Monday under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act which allows gardaí detain suspects for up to 24 hours but the questioning was suspended overnight on Monday night into Tuesday morning and resumed yesterday at 8am.
Gardaí continued to question the man throughout yesterday but he was released without charge shortly before midnight last night when his period of detention was due to expire, and gardaí will now prepare a file on the matter for the DPP, a spokesman confirmed
Meanwhile, Garda technical experts yesterday concluded their forensic examination of Ms Smart's single story terraced house where gardaí found her partially clothed body on the kitchen floor at around 9.45am on Sunday after a call was made to the emergency services.
A postmortem revealed that Ms Smart had sustained a number of blows to the back of the head, and The Irish Times understands that gardaí are investigating whether she may have been struck with a hurley or a kitchen item such as a microwave or possibly both.
Gardaí believe that Ms Smart was fatally assaulted sometime between 5am and 9.45am on Sunday as officers had called to the house at 5am that morning after she dialled the emergency services to say that she couldn't gain entry to the house upon returning home.
There was no sign of a forced entry to the house and The Irish Times understands that gardai have begun checking CCTV footage from a nearby commercial premises to see if there's any footage of anyone entering or leaving the Bailick Court estate during these times.
Supt Flor Horan of Midleton Garda Station, who is heading up the investigation, had renewed his appeal to anyone who may have seen any unusual activity in the Bailick Road area between 3am and 10am on Sunday to contact Midleton Garda Station on 021-4631324.