Gardaí have launched an investigation into the discovery of a man’s body in “unexplained circumstances” in Co Monaghan. The deceased’s remains were found on Tuesday morning outside the M Hotel near Carrickmacross.
The scene has been sealed off and a postmortem examination was awaited to confirm whether the deceased had met with foul play. He had sustained a head injury and gardaí were trying to establish if he was assaulted or may have fallen or otherwise sustained his injuries accidentally.
It is understood the man, believed to be an African asylum seeker in his 20s, has been identified, though he was not being named until gardaí had contacted more of his family members. The M Hotel has been used for a prolonged period to supply some of its rooms as emergency accommodation to the State to house asylum seekers.
Gardaí were called to a disturbance at the hotel on Halloween night but when they arrived the situation had calmed and it appears no intervention or arrests were required. It was unclear if there was any link between that disturbance on Monday night and the discovery of the man’s remains outside the property the following morning.
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Garda sources stressed while all of the resources of a homicide inquiry had been applied to the investigation, the cause of the man’s death, and precise nature of his head injuries, would not become clear until after a postmortem was completed. They added they were keeping an open mind but ensuring a full criminal inquiry had begun in the event the man’s death was ruled a homicide.
“At approximately 8am, following a call from a member of the public, gardaí discovered a man’s body on the curtilage of a premises on the Kingscourt Road at Lossets, Co Monaghan,” said the force in a statement.
The scene where the body was found was sealed off on Tuesday morning pending the arrival of a pathologist. The remains were due to be removed to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, Co Louth, for a full postmortem, the results of which were not expected to become available until Wednesday.
Once those results were available, gardaí in Carrickmacross would formally launch a homicide inquiry or scale down their investigation to one consistent with accidental deaths. Gardaí have also gathered CCTV recorded at the hotel in a bid to piece together the dead man’s last movements.
