Brazilian librarian was in Cork pub hours before her death

Gardaí investigating the murder of a 28-year-old Brazilian woman in Cork have established she was out celebrating the new year with a group of fellow Brazilians just hours before she was killed.

Detectives investigating the murder of Bruna Fonseca have confirmed that she was welcoming in the new year with a group of Brazilians in the Oyster Tavern in Cork on New Year’s Eve.

Ms Fonseca, a qualified librarian from Formigia in the province of Minas Gerais in south eastern Brazil, had moved to Cork with her boyfriend in September but the couple had since split up.

She had been working in Cork as a contract cleaner with Bidvest Noonan Contract Cleaners at the Mercy University Hospital located around 500 metres from where she lived in a flat on Liberty Street in Cork City.

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Gardaí believe that Ms Fonseca was fatally assaulted by a person known to her at her flat about an hour or so before she was found unconscious in the flat.

Officers were alerted when they received a call from a male at about 6.30am about a disturbance at the upstairs flat which is near the Washington Street Courthouse.

They met a man outside the building and he brought them up to a flat where they found Ms Fonseca unresponsive on a bed. They immediately began administering CPR to try to resuscitate her.

They were joined by HSE paramedics who also worked to resuscitate Ms Fonseca but they were unsuccessful and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Ms Fonseca’s body was later removed to Cork University Hospital where Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Margaret Bolster, carried out a postmortem which confirmed she had died a violent death.

Gardaí have arrested a 29-year-old Brazilian man at the scene and he was taken to the nearby Bridewell Garda station for questioning about the death of the young woman.

The man, who was known to the deceased, was detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act which allows gardaí detain suspects for up to 24 hours before they have to be charged or released.