Man charged with taxi driver murder

A 37-YEAR-OLD man has been charged with the murder of a taxi driver in Cork city.

Lloyd Buckley of Flat F, 3 Rocksprings Terrace, St Luke’s, Cork, appeared before a special sitting of Cork District Court on Saturday charged with the murder of 62-year-old father-of-two Michael Healy between September 18 and 22.

Mr Healy’s body was found at his apartment, also in Rocksprings Terrace, last Wednesday. The taxi driver was a native of Grenagh, near Mallow in Co Cork.

Sergeant Mike Hogan gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution in the case, telling Judge Olann Kelleher that Buckley made no reply when formally charged with the murder of Mr Healy at Mayfield Garda Station.

Judge Kelleher remanded Buckley in custody to appear before Cork District Court again next Thursday.

Free legal aid was granted as the accused is unemployed.

Solicitor Frank Buttimer also asked that his clientreceive medical attention in custody for “certain medical difficulties” which were not disclosed to the court. Judge Kelleher agreed the relevant medical attention should be given to Buckley.

Mr Healy had been living in the St Luke’s area for several years and was a familiar figure there. A postmortem indicated that he died from a blunt force trauma head injury.