Child found mother dead at bottom of the stairs

A NEIGHBOURHOOD on the north side of Cork City was in a state of bewilderment yesterday as people tried to understand how a young mother died in her home.

At around 10am yesterday morning, 27-year-old Tina Greaney was found lying dead at the bottom of her stairs on Killiney Heights, Knocknaheeny.

She was discovered by her seven-year-old daughter, Taylor, the eldest of her three children.

Her other children, Kelvin, 6, and 8-month-old Jodie, were not in the house at the time.

On discovering her mother the young child, who recently made her First Holy Communion, rushed from their end-of-terrace home to her grandmother’s house across the street.

Emergency services were immediately called to the scene, but Ms Greaney was already dead.

She will be a great loss to her friends and neighbours.

Two men stood talking yards from the gate of Ms Greaney’s house, where gardaí were on watch.

“She was a lovely girl and a great mother. I came to her for a loan the other day and she gave it to me without even asking, she was that kind of person always trying to give people a dig out.

“She could collect her lone-parent money on a weekday and if you needed a loan she wouldn’t even think of saying no, once she looked after the kids she was happy,” he said.

Local speculation was that she returned from a house party in Togher at 5.30am with two other people.

Earlier in the night she had been in a city centre nightclub with her best friend. Her neighbours along Killiney Heights believe she was murdered.

“It is terrible, for something like this to happen in her own home. Is there nowhere safe?” said one woman.

Gardaí, however, refused to rule out the possibility that Ms Greaney may have fallen down the stairs.

There were no signs of forced entry at her home, although Deputy State Pathologist Margot Bolster was called into conduct a post mortem at University College Hospital in Cork.

A close friend of the dead woman, who declined to be named, said that Ms Greaney was just an ordinary girl “trying to put one foot in front of the other”.

“Tina has a great big heart and a great big smile. She loved her kids and took great pride in them and always made sure they were taken care of. She was very friendly — a beautiful person really. I can’t believe she is gone like this,” she said.

Local independent councillor Dave McCarthy lives locally and said word began to filter around the community yesterday morning after Mass in St Mary’s Church.

“Everybody is devastated, they just don’t know how this could happen.

“She comes from a nice family and was in the prime of her life trying to raise a young family. It is very sad,” he said.

Gardaí were yesterday carrying out house to house enquiries in relation to the death.

Anyone with information on the death should contact gardaí in Gurranabraher on 021-4946200.