A man is expected to be charged this morning at Newport District Court in Co Tipperary for the fatal stabbing of a New Age traveller in a road rage incident in the Silvermines Mountains yesterday.
Mr Christopher Cybbula, who is in his early forties and from Britain, was pronounced dead at Nenagh General Hospital at about 1 p.m., having suffered knife wounds to his chest close to his home a few miles from Kilcommon, Co Tipperary.
Mr Cybbula lived with a partner and a family of four at a New Age travellers' encampment on commonage land close to the village.
Local people said yesterday that he had been in the area for about two years and occasionally repaired cars.
A suspect was arrested yesterday afternoon and held at Killaloe Garda station, Co Clare, under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.
Superintendent Sean Corcoran, who is leading the investigation, said it was believed that the death had occurred after his Ford Fiesta van was involved in a minor collision, on an icy road, involving wing mirror damage to the suspect's Opel Kadett car.
Mr Cybbula was brought in his van towards Nenagh General Hospital, and was met en route by an ambulance.
The location is a scenic hilly area about 26 miles from Limerick. Kilcommon, the nearest village, is on a bye-road off the Limerick-Thurles route at Rear Cross. Local people said that about five New Age traveller families were living on the commonage but that they kept largely to themselves.