Gardaí are expected to launch a murder investigation following the receipt of postmortem results on the body of an 89-year-old patient who died after he was allegedly attacked by another patient with a walking aid in a Cork hospital on Sunday morning.
The deceased, named locally as Matthew Healy, a retired farmer from Berrings in Co Cork, died following an alleged attack by a 32-year-old man who was in the same unit in a general medical ward at the Mercy University Hospital.
Fellow patients raised the alarm at about 5.30am and nursing staff raced to the six-bed unit, where Mr Healy had suffered serious head injuries in the alleged attack. He was pronounced dead at the scene by a hospital doctor.
Mr Healy’s body was removed to Cork University Hospital where assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster carried out a postmortem, which confirmed he died a violent death after suffering extensive blunt force trauma to the head.
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A male nurse suffered a broken finger while trying to stop the attack on Mr Healy and gardaí were called. Members of the Armed Support Unit were among those who responded, and they subdued the suspect before he was arrested.
The man was taken to the Bridewell Garda station where he is being detained under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, which allows suspects to be held for up to 24 hours before they must be charged or released.
Gardaí said they were not looking for anybody in connection with the assault. A family liaison officer has been appointed to the Healy family.
It is understood the suspect, who is from Churchfield on Cork’s northside, was admitted to the hospital earlier in the week through the emergency department, where he was assessed before being sent to the general medical ward.
The four other patients who were in the unit at the time were removed from the area by hospital staff. Gardaí cordoned off the scene to allow technical experts examine the scene including the walking aid used in the attack.
Gardaí have taken preliminary statements from some of the other patients in the unit and staff
“There are a lot of very distressed people as this was a frenzied attack and there were other patients in the ward at the time and some nurses also saw what happened and they are all traumatised by it,” said one Garda source.
The hospital extended its sympathies to Mr Healy’s family while they also confirmed in a statement that they were providing counselling and support for the patients and staff affected.
It is understood the hospital has begun an investigation into the admission of the suspect in order to establish what assessments were made on his condition before he was sent to a general medical ward.
Mr Healy’s death comes less than three weeks after his wife, Delia, died at St Finbarr’s Hospital in Cork. Their young daughter, Christine, drowned in a swimming accident in West Cork many years ago.
Mr Healy, who is survived by his three adult children, Vincent, Gerard and Claire, as well as his eight grandchildren, was only admitted to the Mercy University Hospital in the past fortnight as he attended his wife’s funeral in Berrings on January 4th.
Berrings curate Fr Patrick McCarthy said the local people were shocked as news broke of Mr Healy’s death, as the family were well known and liked in the tightly-knit community that lies west of Blarney and some 18km northwest of Cork City.
“People here in Berrings are not just in a state of shock, they are devastated at what has happened because everybody knows Matthew – the Healys are a very quiet and private family, but they are good community people and good churchgoing people, so everyone knows them.
“We can’t begin to imagine how they must be feeling but everybody will be thinking of them and holding them in their thoughts and prayers over the coming days and I have no doubt that the community will rally around for them and offer them every support they can.”
Local Fianna Fáil councillor Michael Looney said the people of Berrings are deeply saddened and shocked by Mr Healy’s death. “He was a very quiet man. The last place you would think something like this would happen is in a hospital. When you go into hospital you think you are safe in your bed.
“The people of Berrings are devastated. The family are here for generations. They are hugely respected. They are lovely people, and he [Mr Healy] was a thorough gentleman, a pure gentleman. His wife is only dead two weeks or so,” he said.
