Man arrested after woman’s body found near Mullingar

A man in his 50s has been arrested after the discovery of a woman’s body in Co Westmeath at the weekend.

The discovery was made on Saturday night in a house in the village of Ballynacargy, near Mullingar.

A postmortem examination was carried out on Sunday.

The victim lived in the centre of the small village, close to the Co Longford border. On Sunday night, a 53-year-old man was arrested and detained at Mullingar Garda station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.

Forensic experts

The woman’s body, which is understood to have been discovered by a family member, was removed to the Midland Regional Hospital at Mullingar.

State Pathologist Marie Cassidy was notified, and the postmortem took place at the hospital.

The scene at the house has been preserved by forensic experts. Gardaí said the scene would remain preserved pending the result of the postmortem and no announcements would be made until then.

In a statement on Sunday night, gardaí said the postmortem has been completed and the results had been passed to the investigation team.

“Gardaí are now conducting a murder investigation,” a spokesman said.

Total shock

Local TD Willie Penrose said the whole village was in “total shock” at the news of the woman’s death.

He said she was “a very hard worker” who came from a well respected family in Ballynacargy.

“You don’t expect a tragedy of such awful proportions in a small rural community like this. It is a tragedy for the whole village.”

Mr Penrose said the woman’s family were “local people” who were well regarded.

He said the village had heard the news of the death late on Saturday, with many people in shock.

Fianna Fáil TD Robert Troy also said the community was “rocked” by the death.

Mr Troy said the woman was “an exemplary mother and a hard worker”.