Holohan murder team renew appeal for witnesses

The Garda team investigating the killing of 11-year-old Robert Holohan today vowed they were absolutely determined to capture the person responsible.

Gardaí repeated their promise as they appealed for information over a white pick-up truck seen near his Co Cork home on the day he disappeared.

Supt Kevin Donoghue of the Garda Press Office said: “We are satisfied with the progress that we are making in this investigation and we will confirm that we are absolutely determined to resolve this as satisfactorily as we can in the circumstances.”

The senior garda said detectives wished to speak to anyone with information on a dirty white coloured pick-up truck, which was “seen with its door open“, in Ballyedmond near Robert’s home on the afternoon of Tuesday, January 4.

“In addition to that and we have renewed our appeals and we are looking for anyone who was in the Ballyedmond area driving walking or visiting, whom we haven’t spoken to, to call us and it is really for us to decide of what assistance that is as opposed to them,” he said.

On reports that an arrest in the investigation was imminent, he said: “As of this minute there is no significant development expected but that might change in an hour's time it might change five-hours time, it could change in a day or two.”

The Superintendent said he would not confirm or deny reports that the schoolboy knew his killer.

“We in the investigation team know precisely the people we are looking at and we are progressing each of those as we go along.

“As the investigation goes along obviously the circle gets narrower and narrower and the focus comes clearer and clearer, and that is the position in this investigation,” he told RTÉ radio.

There were emotional scenes in the small Co Cork community yesterday as a funeral service was held for the young GAA lover.

The Garda hunt for Robert’s killer continued as the funeral ceremony took place. Detectives began taking fingerprints from hundreds of locals yesterday after marks were found on some of Robert’s possessions recovered with him.

The 50 detectives working on the case have carried out inquiries as far afield as Britain and Belgium but the focus of the investigation is now believed to be on suspects in the local area.

Robert disappeared from his home in Ballyedmond, Midleton, after leaving on his BMX bike which had been given to him as a Christmas present. The bike was found abandoned later that afternoon half a mile from his home.

Thousands of volunteers searched fields, beaches and rivers.

His body was discovered on the eighth day by a team of gardaí, army personnel and volunteers. It was concealed in dense undergrowth, in a ravine just feet away from a road which leads to Inch Strand in Cork, over 10-miles away from his home.

A post-mortem on the 11-year-old’s fully clothed body found he died of asphyxiation.

There were no signs of any sexual assault.

Gardaí discovered his mobile phone alongside the body, which was covered by a black bin bag.