Woman is stabbed to death after night with friends

Gardai in Carlow have opened a murder investigation after a 28year-old woman was fatally stabbed following a night out with friends.

Ms Dervla Keating, of Avondale Drive, Carlow, and her 23-year-old boyfriend, Mr Alan Walsh, were both stabbed in a house close to her home at about 2 a.m. yesterday.

She collapsed and died outside the house, at Riverside. Mr Walsh, from Waterford city, was taken to St Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny, where his condition was said to be not life-threatening.

They had gone to the house in Riverside with a tenant with whom they had been drinking in the town earlier.

Shortly after the incident a man presented himself at Carlow Garda station and was taken in for questioning under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act. He was released yesterday afternoon, and a file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

A neighbour from Riverside, who went to the aid of Ms Keating and Mr Walsh, described how she emerged from the house and lay on a pillar before collapsing. The neighbour, Mr Michael Walsh, was with family members and a friend when the couple came outside seeking help.

"We were on our way home from the pub and were just talking and joking when next thing this fellow came out of the house with the girl behind him. He was saying `Help us, help us'."

At first Mr Walsh thought it was a drunken prank but then he saw that the man's left arm was covered in blood. Ms Keating's injuries were not immediately apparent because they were concealed by the pillar.

"I lifted up his arm and put it across him but he kept saying: `She's stabbed, she's stabbed, go to her'. I went over to her and just as I did she collapsed to the ground."

He said she died shortly afterwards. "I just held her in my arms and waited until the gardai and the ambulance arrived."

A post-mortem was being carried out last night by the State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison. It is believed Ms Keating suffered a single stab wound to the upper body.

The scene was preserved yesterday for examination by members of the Garda Technical Bureau.

Neighbours of the Keating family on Avondale Drive, which is round the corner from Riverside, said they were shocked by what had happened.

"She was a lovely girl. She went to the Presentation school with my daughter. That's all I want to say. You'll find it hard to get anyone to talk because everyone is just devastated," said one woman.