Man arrested in Holohan murder inquiry

A man has been arrested in connection with the death of 11-year-old Robert Holohan, it was confirmed today.

The investigating team in Midleton, Co Cork was tight-lipped about the arrest but have revealed the suspect is a 20-year-old.

A garda based at Midleton garda station said: “One man has been arrested in connection with the death and those are all the details that can be given out.”

The man is being held under section four of the Criminal Justice Act. He can be detained for an initial period of six hours but it can be extended.

Earlier, the Garda team appealed for information over a white pick-up truck seen near Robert’s home in Ballyedmond on the day the 11-year-old 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, 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.

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,” he told RTÉ radio.

“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.”