Man due in court this morning in connection with fatal stabbing of Shane Murphy
Gardaí at the house in Carrigaline, Co Cork, where Shane Murphy's body was found. Shane's 75-year-old father, Weeshie Murphy, was seriously injured in the attack. Picture: Michael MacSweeney/Provision
One young man was stabbed to death and another is fighting for his life after a hammer attack following separate violent attacks in their own homes in Cork over the weekend.
The father of the fatal stabbing victim and the mother of the assault victim were also injured in the brutal attacks but both are expected to make full recoveries from their physical injuries.
Gardaí resumed their questioning on Sunday of a man arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of Shane Murphy, 27, one of Ireland’s top pitch and putt players, in Carrigaline early on Saturday morning.
The 42-year-old man is due to appear at Cork District Court at 10.30am this morning.
Shane's father, Weeshie, 75, who was seriously injured in the attack in their home in the town’s Sea View Avenue estate at around 3.30am, is recovering and was due to give a statement to gardaí.
A 42-year-old man, who it is understood was known to both men, was arrested in relation to the incident a few hours later in the Passage West area. He was taken to Gurranabraher Garda Station and detained under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984, which allows gardaí to question suspects for up to 24 hours.
Questioning was suspended later to allow him to receive medical attention in hospital.
Gardaí continued their forensic examination of the house in which they recovered a weapon. They conducted door-to-door enquiries in the area and examined CCTV footage, while a post-mortem examination on Shane’s remains took place at Cork University Hospital (CUH).
The results have not been released for operational reasons but it is understood that it confirmed he died from a single stab wound to the upper body.
Shane and his father were successful, hugely-respected pitch and putt players.
Shane was ranked amongst the top three players in the country, having won several local, regional, and national titles at various levels over the years. He won two senior titles in match play and stroke play events recently.
His father also won numerous titles over the years and he was involved in the administration of the sport in Cork.
Noel Collins, chairman of the Cork County Board of Pitch and Putt Ireland, knew both men well and spoke of his own sense of shock and disbelief, which he said had reverberated across the country.
“Pitch and putt was their life,” he said.
“We saw his talent at juvenile level but he carried that right through to senior level and what’s happened is just unbelievable. We’re all just totally shocked.”
All Cork County Board pitch and putt events, including all Cork league semi finals, were cancelled over the weekend as a mark of respect, as pitch and putt clubs around the country posted messages of condolence on social media.
Raffeen Creek pitch and putt club, where Shane was a member until recently, said they were all still in shock after hearing the “heartbreaking news”.
Weeshie Murphy was described by neighbours as a kind and gentle man, who was involved in the building trade and who loved his family, and his pitch and putt.
His wife, Marie, died following illness in May 2012. The couple had five children, Tanya, John, Mark, Bryan and Shane but Mark died in tragic circumstances in the family home two days before Christmas 2013.
Local Fianna Fáil councillor Seamus McGrath, who knows the family, said the entire town had been rocked by the tragedy.
“Sea View is a quiet, settled area, it’s one of the older estates in Carrigaline with many families who have lived in the area for years and this is the last thing you’d expect to hear. My thoughts are with the father and his family and I wish him well in his recovery,” he said.
Meanwhile, a man in his 20s is in critical condition after he was attacked by a masked assailant armed with what’s believed to have been a hammer during an aggravated burglary at the house he shares with his mother at McCurtain Villas off College Rd on the city’s southside at about 4pm on Saturday.
He was beaten about the head and rushed to CUH where his condition was described as critical. His mother, who is in her 60s, was injured when she intervened to save her son. She was also taken to CUH for treatment for non life-threatening injuries.
Catherine Clancy, chairperson of the Magazine Road and Surrounding Areas Residents’ Association, described it as “an extremely worrying incident”:
“Hopefully the young man recovers and his mother won’t be too traumatised. And we would have a lot of elderly people living in this area so hopefully the gardaí will find the person responsible sooner rather than later.”
Gardaí are keeping an open mind on the motive for the attack and have been harvesting CCTV footage from the area.
They have appealed for anyone who saw anything suspicious in the McCurtain Villas, Wycherley Terrace, College Rd, or Bandon Rd areas between 3.30pm and 4.30pm on Saturday, and especially anyone with dashcam footage from those areas, to contact them.
Meanwhile, gardaí in north Cork are continuing their investigation into all the circumstances surrounding the suspicious death of a man in his 60s who was found dead in a house in Buttevant last week.
They are trying to establish who the man interacted with, and his last-known movements in the hours before he was found unconscious by his partner on the floor of a downstairs room at their house at O’Brien Terrace at around 9.30pm on Thursday.
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