Gardaí are investigating whether the fatal stabbing of a 31-year-old man in a pub in Youghal in Co Cork on Monday night may be linked to an earlier incident in the town the same evening.
It’s understood that a man in his 20s was assaulted by a number of men in the town sometime before 9pm – possibly as little as 45 minutes before the fatal stabbing incident.
The victim of the knife attack, who was originally from Mallow but had been living in Youghal since 2023, was drinking in Tynan’s on North Main Street when a man entered the premises.
He approached the victim and stabbed him in the stomach before fleeing the scene as customers raised the alarm and the emergency services arrived to assist the casualty.
Paramedics worked to stabilise him before they transferred him to their ambulance to remove him to Cork University Hospital (CUH) but it’s understood that he died en route to Cork.
Gardaí have begun taking witness statements from others who were in the pub at the time, while also harvesting CCTV from North Main Street and surrounding streets.
Gardaí identified a suspect from talking to witnesses in the pub and they called to a nearby flat on North Main Street where the suspect lived but found that he was not at home.
They then called to the man’s family home at an estate in Youghal but again he was not at home so they informed the man’s family that they wished to speak to him in relation to the incident.
Later, at about 3am on Tuesday morning, a man presented himself at Midleton Garda station and he was arrested for questioning about the fatal assault on the man in Youghal.
The suspect is being detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, which allows gardaí to detain suspects for up to 24 hours before they must be charged or released without charge.
Meanwhile, local gardaí in Youghal cordoned off the pub as well as the suspect’s flat and gardaí from the Garda technical team in Dublin travelled began a forensic examination of both scenes.
Gardaí have also begun a search of the shores and drains on North Main Street and surrounding streets searching for the weapon that the suspect used in the attack on the victim.
Assistant state pathologist Dr Margot Bolster began a postmortem on the deceased at CUH at about 2pm.
It’s expected that gardaí will formally begin a murder investigation into the death of the Mallow man once they receive the results of Dr Bolster’s postmortem later on Tuesday evening.
A senior investigation officer has been appointed to oversee the inquiry, while a family liaison officer has also been appointed to the case to keep the deceased’s family informed.
Gardaí say they will be not releasing the name of the deceased until all next of kin have been notified. They have also appealed for any witnesses to contact them at Midleton Garda station.
