A file will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) after a man and a woman were held for questioning in connection with the death of a 36-year-old woman who was attacked at a soup kitchen in Cork city centre last year.
Vanessa O’Callaghan had just been given some food and a sleeping bag by a member of the Kindness Krew volunteer group when she was set upon in Patrick Street on December 1st, 2024. She was assaulted by up to three people.
One of the volunteers rushed to her assistance and began CPR before paramedics arrived. She died at Cork University Hospital (CUH) three days later.
On Wednesday a man and a woman in their thirties were arrested in connection with the death of Ms O’Callaghan. They were held under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 at a Garda station in Cork. They have been released without charge. Investigations are continuing.
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Ms O’Callaghan was predeceased by her three brothers and her father.
Linda O’Callaghan told Cork’s 96FM that her sister had spent time on the streets of Cork. She described saying goodbye to her sister in hospital. “I told her to sleep easy. I said ‘at least you are in a bed now today girl’ because she was in a nice bed ... Marcella [her sister] spoke to her. We talked about when she was young.
“[She is in a better place] from the life she has been leading the last 20 odd years. She is safe now in the arms of her dad and her brothers.”
Ms O’Callaghan was laid to rest at St Catherine’s cemetery in Kilcully on December 10th, 2024 following mass at St Peter and St Paul’s Church in Cork city centre. Volunteers at the soup kitchen said the mother of three was a “quiet and mannerly” woman.
