Postmortems completed on bodies of three brothers in Cork

The Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis has completed postmortems on the bodies of twins Thomas and Paddy O'Driscoll and their older brother Jonathan who were found dead in Charleville and Buttevant in Co Cork yesterday.

Gardaí said that, for operational reasons, investigating officers were not releasing details of the examinations, carried out at Cork University Hospital, at this time.

The nine-year-old boys were fatally stabbed in the house yesterday afternoon and their bodies remained at the scene until Dr Curtis completed a forensic examination this afternoon.

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Ellen O’Driscoll (centre), mother of nine-year-old twins Thomas and Paddy and their older brother Jonathan who died yesterday, grieves as a hearse brings one of the twins to hospital for a postmortem. Photo Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision

Their parents, Helen and Thomas Snr, were comforted by family and friends as the bodies were brought from the house to hospital in two hearses.

Fr Tom Naughton of the Holy Cross Parish in Charleville knew the family and spent time with them on two separate occasions last night and led prayers in the town again today.

“The prayers are very, very important. I think it was beautiful to see such a show of support from the community,” the priest said.

For a second day a large crowd gathered outside the home waiting to express condolences with the family.

Although gardaí have yet to officially comment on the nature of their investigation and are likely to wait until the conclusion of the postmortems, privately gardaí are saying they are treating the deaths of Tom and Paddy O’Driscoll as murder but they don’t believe that there was any foul play involved in the death of Jonathan O’Driscoll (21) and that they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the twins deaths.

The nine-year-old boys had returned to third class at Banogue National School near their home in Charleville earlier this week and this morning classmates, staff and parents of other pupils were coming to terms with the terrible tragedy.

Teachers at the school today expressed their shock and sadness at the death of the two boys and expressed their sympathies to their grieving parents and siblings.

School principal Sheila Cagney issued a statement in which she told of how the school was devastated by the deaths of their two young pupils.

“This is a terrible tragedy for the family, the school and the whole community. We are deeply saddened by this event,” Ms Cagney said.

“Our sympathy and thoughts are with the family and friends at this terrible time,” said Ms Cagney, describing the two boys - who had been pupils in the school for just over a year - as “loving, energetic and full of fun”.

Ms Cagney said the focus of the staff at this time was on the pupils in the school who are trying to come to terms with the loss of young friends and it was receiving help from psychological services.

Meanwhile it has emerged that Jonathan O’Driscoll collected his two younger siblings from Banogue National School yesterday afternoon and brought them to Doneraile Wildlife Park where they spent around an hour or so.

Jonathan was looking after the boys while their parents -members of the settled Traveller community - went to Waterford to buy a miniature traditional Traveller barrel caravan for the two boys.

“They had gone down to Waterford to get this miniature traditional Traveller caravan for the two lads and they were bringing back up to Charleville as a present for them when they learned that they had been killed,” said an informed source.

A spokesman for the Health Service Executive said trained counsellors were working in the town to support families and children affected by the tragedy.

“The Health Service Executive (HSE) wishes to extend its deepest sympathy to the family,” a spokesman said. The HSE is working with suicide charity Console, the specialists from the Department of Education and other agencies to provide support, assistance and counselling, it said.

Community health workers with the Travellers of North Cork association were also in the town supporting members of the community, relatives and friends.

Counselling and support services are being set up in the area by the group alongside the HSE to help the immediate and extended family and they are expected to remain in place for several days into next week.

Garda forensic investigation teams were at the house throughout the morning as preliminary inquiries into the deaths become more detailed.

If the deaths are confirmed to be as a result of a murder-suicide it will be the second such incident in less than two months.

Two brothers died at their home in rural Sligo in late July. Nine-year-old Brandon Skeffington was found with stab wounds in the family home at Banada, Tourlestrane near Tubbercurry, before the body of his elder brother Shane junior (21) was found in a shed beside the property.

A study released last August examined 19 similar incidents over a 13-year period from January 2001 to the end of June last year. The report revealed that on average one murder-suicide incident happens per year and 46 people died in the period under review.

The Samaritans can be contacted by phone at 116 123 in the Republic, at 08457 909090 in Northern Ireland, or by email jo@samaritans.org.