DETECTIVES WERE last night continuing to question a 17-year- old arrested following the fatal stabbing of a father of one during a row in a house in Blarney, Co Cork, over the weekend.
Officers arrested the teenager shortly after 8.45pm on Saturday when they were called to a house in the Ard na Gréine estate off the Station Road in Blarney, where they found the body of the man with a stab wound to the chest.
The man, named locally as Shannon Ruby (30), was pronounced dead at the scene and gardaí immediately launched a murder investigation.
They arrested the 17-year-old nearby and, following some medical treatment, brought him to Gurranebraher Garda station.
The youth, who was known to Mr Ruby, was arrested under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act which allows gardaí to detain suspects for up to 24 hours.
Mr Ruby was originally from Knocknasuff in Blarney but had been living with his partner and six-month-old child in Youghal in east Cork. He had been in Blarney visiting a family member who lives in the Ard na Gréine estate.
It is understood that Mr Ruby went to a house near where his relative lives, that a row broke out in the kitchen area of that house and that Mr Ruby suffered a fatal stab wound to the chest.
Gardaí cordoned off both houses and Garda technical experts yesterday carried out forensic examinations.
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster carried out a preliminary examination of the body at the scene at about 8.30am yesterday before Mr Ruby's body was removed to Cork University Hospital for a postmortem.
The Irish Timesunderstands that the postmortem confirmed that Mr Ruby died from a single stab wound to the chest.
Gardaí are believed to have recovered a kitchen knife which has been has been sent for a technical examination.
There were a number of people in both houses at the time of the row on Saturday and gardaí have taken preliminary statements. Detectives also carried out door-to-door inquiries in the estate yesterday.
Supt Con Cadogan of Gurranebraher Garda station, who is leading the investigation, has appealed to anyone who may have seen anything or heard anything unusual in the Ard na Gréine estate between 8pm and 9pm on Saturday to contact them in Gurranebraher on 021-4946200.