A man is tonight being sought by gardai after his Jamaican wife was found dying in an apartment in Dublin yesterday.
Officers appealed to the public for help finding Goodwill Udechuckwu, (29) after his 25-year-old wife Natasha Gray was found dying in her apartment in Phibsboro, north Dublin, after a violent struggle and was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital yesterday.
Her two young children may have witnessed the attack.
Tonight officers issued an urgent appeal over the whereabouts of 6ft, strongly-built Udechuckwu, who been resident in Ireland since 2001.
They said the man would have established very few acquaintances in Ireland and may also be known as James or Issac Udechuckwu.
Members of the public are being asked to contact Dublin's Mountjoy Garda Station with information on his whereabouts."We would like to speak to the community in the area of Royal Canal View but we would particularly like to talk to the husband of the deceased," said Chief Superintendent Al McHugh, who is leading the investigation.
"We believe that he may be able to help us. We believe that he may also have vital information that would help us in out investigation."
He said Mr Udechuckwu had only been in Ireland since May 2001.
"There are quite a few Nigerian national people here in Dublin - we would ask them if they know the whereabouts of Goodwill that they contact us at Mountjoy Garda Station," he added.
Officers are asking workers, taxi drivers, neighbours and in the area who may have seen anything suspicious to contact them with information.
They said they were following a number of lines of inquiry.
Ms Gray, who had been living and working in Ireland for some time, appeared to have received a number of blows from a blunt instrument.
Her children, both under the age of four, are being cared for by relatives in Dublin.
A full-scale murder hunt was launched after she was found by relatives in the bedroom of a flat in Phibsboro yesterday afternoon.
Ambulance technicians treated the woman and took her to the city's Mater Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
A post-mortem investigation was carried out by the Deputy State Pathologist and the apartment was preserved for forensic examination.
PA