A woman (54) has been arrested over the death of a man in Co Laois last Sunday.
Pat Burke (55) died from head injuries caused by a blunt instrument, according to the results of a postmortem. The body of the Ballybrittas man was found at his home at about 10.40pm on Sunday.
Gardaí said he had sustained a number of wounds to the head, and they believe a hammer found was the murder weapon.
The woman was arrested this morning and is being detained at Portlaoise Garda station.
The dead man's wife was found collapsed next to her husband. She had suffered knife wounds to both arms and was taken to the Midlands Hospital, Portlaoise, before being transferred to St James's Hospital, Dublin, last Monday.
Gardaí believe Mr Burke may have been killed some time late on Saturday night or early on Sunday morning but that both he and his injured wife lay undiscovered until late on Sunday.
Gardaí were alerted when one of the couple's four children came home on Sunday evening and found his father dead in a downstairs bedroom and his mother close by.