A MURDER investigation was launched in Cork yesterday after a 25-year-old man was found stabbed to death on the southside of the city.
Emergency services were called to the scene at Friars Walk in Cork city shortly after 6.30am yesterday. Eddie Gallagher of Ardcullen in Knocknaheeny, Cork city, was brought by ambulance to Cork University Hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
Detectives were yesterday trying to determine whether Mr Gallagher was stabbed inside a two-storey terraced house in Friars Walk or whether the attack occurred on the road outside. Garda Technical experts cordoned off a section of the road outside the house where they found blood and the house was also sealed off.
Locals who gathered at the cordoned-off street yesterday expressed shock at the stabbing. One elderly woman who declined to be named said the area was “full of old people”. “We never have anything like this around the place.
“I heard about 10 minutes ago and I couldn’t believe it. There are a few houses with young people that people wouldn’t know, but in the main it is old people with grown-up families.”
Local election Independent candidate Mick Finn said residents were shocked at the incident.
“It is a very quiet settled area with older families. When people woke up this morning they weren’t expecting this. I can’t think of anything like this happening here before and I am 37 and have lived here all my life. A lot of the older people around here would be quite afraid having heard this. I suppose it can strike in any place.”
Dave McCarthy Independent councillor in Mr Gallagher’s parish of Knocknaheeny in Cork city said that members of the parish were saddened to hear of the young man’s death.
“The whole area is devastated for them and we would sympathise completely with them.”
Gardaí said the investigation was at a very early stage and they were keeping an open mind in their inquiries. They were alerted by ambulance control and an investigation was launched shortly afterwards. It is understood Mr Gallagher may have got in an argument with two men who left the area shortly afterwards. However, this was just one of a number of possibilities being examined by gardaí.
Supt Tom Hayes, who is leading the investigation, has appealed to anyone who may have seen anything unusual in the Friars Walk area between 6am and 8am yesterday to contact Anglesea Street Garda station on (021) 4522000. He particularly appealed to taxi drivers who may have been in the area to contact him.
Supt Hayes said gardaí were still trying to determine what the young man was doing in the area at the time he was stabbed and that they were attempting to clarify matters.
“Anyone who was in the area between 6am and 8am should contact us. Anyone with information on the case should contact us.”
The State Pathologist’s Office was informed and a postmortem examination on the dead man’s body was due to be carried out last night at Cork University Hospital by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster.