Gardaí investigating the suspected murder of a 31-year-old mother of two in north Cork have begun examining CCTV footage to try to establish when and by whom she was last seen alive.
Detectives have collected hours of CCTV footage from around Mallow town centre as they try to establish who was with Paula Canty in the hours before she was stabbed to death at her top-floor apartment at the Belfry on Bridewell Lane in the town.
According to informed sources, gardaí have been able to establish that Ms Canty was out in Mallow town centre late on Thursday night, suggesting that she may have been fatally assaulted in her apartment in the early hours of Friday morning.
Garda suspicions about Ms Canty’s death were aroused when paramedics arrived at her apartment at around midday on Friday and found her unresponsive with a wound to her chest.
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Detectives were immediately suspicious as a male caller, who had rung the emergency services a short time earlier, had reported that Ms Canty had cut her wrists in an attempt at self-harm, but it was evident that she had no such injuries.
Chief Supt Vincent O’Sullivan appointed a senior investigative officer to lead the investigation and an incident room was set up in Mallow Garda station. All the resources of a murder investigation were allocated in anticipation of the death being declared a murder.
A murder inquiry was launched after the postmortem on Ms Canty’s body was completed. The results have not been released for operational reasons, but it is understood the examination by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster confirmed that Ms Canty died as a result of being stabbed.
Tributes have been paid to Ms Canty, a native of Kinsale in west Cork, who would have celebrated her 32nd birthday on Monday. She is survived by her mother, two daughters and five siblings.
Among the messages of condolence that were posted on rip.ie were many from Ms Canty’s friends, including one who sympathised: “Rest in peace, darling – you had the sweetest soul, but life wasn’t fair to you.”
Another sympathiser recalled her as a pupil attending Kinsale Community School, and yet another remembered her as a regular visitor to Kinsale Library and recalled how much she enjoyed spending time among the books.
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