Pensioner held after man found dead in Bantry

A pensioner has been arrested in connection with the suspicious death of another man in west Cork.

The body of a 53-year-old man was discovered by gardaí on waste land in Bantry yesterday evening.

The discovery of the unnamed man’s body was made at 5.20pm on an embankment near a housing estate which overlooks Bantry Bay. He was pronounced dead at the scene by a local doctor.

Gardaí immediately sealed off the locality and it was expected the man’s body would be guarded overnight until the arrival today of personnel from the State Pathologist’s office.

The Garda Press Office confirmed that a man in his 70s was arrested shortly after the body was found. He was detained under the Criminal Justice Act 1984 at Bantry Garda Station. It is expected that detectives will resume questioning the man this morning.

The scene near Seskin, which is close to Bantry General Hospital, was cordoned off for technical examination and gardaí were carrying out house-to-house enquiries in the general area.

It is believed the two men were known to each other, although gardaí declined to comment on speculation that they may have been socialising together in the town earlier in the day when a dispute broke out between them.

Anybody with information is asked to contact Bantry Garda Station at (027) 20867.