An area inside the five-star hotel Ballyfin Demesne hotel in Co Laois has been sealed off as a crime scene after a man died there in violent circumstances on Tuesday evening not long after arriving from the United States.
Though a postmortem on the victim’s remains was awaited to confirm the direction of the criminal investigation now under way, all the resources of a homicide inquiry have been assigned to the case.
Ballyfin Demesne – where a one-night stay costs between €600 and €2,500 – is situated at the foot of the Slieve Bloom mountains in over 600 acres of parkland.
It has hosted many celebrities since it opened in 2011, including George Clooney and his wife Amal as well as Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, who honeymooned there.
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The victim of the fatal attack on Tuesday evening is aged in his 60s, and was a guest at the hotel, where he was discovered injured and unresponsive in one of the communal areas.
A man arrested by gardaí for questioning after the apparent fatal assault is in his 30s. The Irish Times understands the victim and arrested man were known to each other. They were among a party that have arrived at the hotel earlier on Tuesday after travelling to Ireland from the United States.
The arrested man, who was described as having “vulnerabilities”, has been detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act at a Garda station in the east of the country. That allows gardaí to interview the man for up to 24 hours without charge, at which point he must be charged with an offence or released without charge.
“Gardaí are investigating all the circumstances surrounding the death,” a Garda statement said. The Garda Technical Bureau and Office of the State Pathologist were contacted to attend the scene, which is understood to be a bathroom or changing area at a communal facility inside the hotel.
Gardaí said a senior investigating officer has been appointed to lead the inquiry and an incident room was established at Portlaoise Garda station. A family liaison officer has been appointed to support the family of the deceased.
Ballyfin, which is a historic country house hotel, was recently named as the best resort in Ireland and the UK in the 2024 Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards.
Last month it was awarded the highest honour of three keys by the Michelin Guide, which revealed its new one-, two- and three-key distinctions for the most outstanding hotels in the UK and Ireland. Similar to the Michelin stars for restaurants, the Michelin keys have been introduced to honour the best quality in hotel experiences.
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