Two arrested in connection with body in park

Two men were arrested today over the murder of a Romanian woman found stabbed to death in Dublin’s Phoenix Park.

The remains of mother-of-two Eugenia Bratis were discovered in early August, but she was not identified for a fortnight.

The pair, one aged 36 and the other 18, were arrested on the North Circular Road and were being questioned at Finglas and Cabra Garda Stations.

Ms Bratis, 50, from the Timisoara area of Romania, had been begging around the O’Connell Street area in the months before her violent death.

She was found under a blanket in a wooded area of the sprawling park on August 5 and detectives launched a major campaign to identify her.

In an unusual move photographs of the dead woman were issued to the media.

Gardaí liaised with Interpol and combed homeless shelters and refuges in Dublin in a bid to find out who the woman was.

Two passers-by discovered Ms Bratis’s body at around 3.30pm under a tree, near a changing room used by sports clubs, in an area of the park known as the 15 Acres, popular with runners, joggers and cyclists.

The men were being held under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.