Man to be charged after fatal stabbing during altercation between neighbours

A MAN is expected to be charged for the murder of a neighbour in a small Tipperary village at the weekend.

The local community in Lattin, not far from Tipperary town, was in deep shock yesterday as news of the tragedy spread across the village.

The victim, Sean Murphy, aged 29, died after being fatally stabbed with a knife near his home on Sunday night. Local gardaí believe he was stabbed during some sort of “altercation” with a neighbour along a row of new houses.

He received a stab wound to his chest, but managed to crawl back to his own house, where he slumped in his front garden, bleeding heavily.

Superintendent John Courtney of Tipperary Garda station spoke briefly at the scene yesterday. He said: “The situation developed when gardaí in Tipperary Town got a phone call at 9.30pm to attend at Lattin, where a person had received a stab wound. Gardaí arrived and tried to resuscitate the victim by giving CPR but unfortunately were unable to revive him, then the ambulance arrived with a doctor and he was pronounced dead at 10pm.”

A local man, aged 40, was arrested a short time later at the scene and was detained under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 at Tipperary Garda Station.

The area was sealed off and a technical examination was conducted yesterday for possible evidence.

The body had been kept at the scene overnight pending the arrival of the State Pathologist yesterday morning.

The local Garda scene of crimes unit began a search of the area yesterday morning, during which they recovered a knife believed to have been used in the attack.

The knife has been sent to the Garda Technical Bureau for forensic and DNA analysis.

House-to-house enquiries were conducted in the area to assist detectives build up a picture of what happened.

Gardaí said they were not searching for anybody else in connection with the attack.

Garda sources said the case was largely “wrapped up” and that charges were expected to follow.