Gardaí in Cork are expected to begin a murder inquiry in coming days following the death on Wednesday of a 36-year-old woman who was assaulted while attending a soup kitchen in the city at the weekend.
Named locally as 36-year-old Vanessa O’Callaghan, the woman was found with head injuries by emergency services outside the Savoy Shopping Centre on St Patrick’s Street at about 8pm on Sunday.
Ms O’Callaghan was the victim of a violent attack close to a homeless services support point, according to Garda sources.
Volunteers with the homeless group administered CPR until emergency services and gardaí arrived.
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Paramedics worked to stabilise Ms O’Callaghan at the scene before she was rushed by ambulance to Cork University Hospital (CUH). She was described as being in a critical condition and put on a ventilator.
But her condition failed to improve and on Wednesday, following consultation with medical personnel treating her, Ms O’Callaghan’s family took the decision to switch off the ventilator. She died at around 4pm.
The Cork city native, originally from Coach Street, had been a known user of homeless services in the city for several years. Ms O’Callaghan was not homeless but did avail of soup kitchen services on a regular basis.
She is understood to have been queuing for soup outside a soup kitchen run at the former Savoy Cinema.
Gardaí confirmed Ms O’Callaghan died as a result of her injuries.
Her body was transferred to the morgue at CUH where State Pathologist, Dr Sally Anne Collis will begin a postmortem at midday on Thursday which gardaí are hoping will be able to assist them in their investigation.
It is understood investigators have already set up an incident room at Anglesea Garda station.
Gardaí have indicated they are pursuing a definite line of inquiry and have confirmed the names of more than 30 people between service users and service providers who were present at the soup kitchen at the time of the assault.
They have also begun harvesting CCTV footage from around St Patrick Street to try to establish who may have been with Ms O’Callaghan at the time of the assault.
Investigating gardaí continued to appeal to the public for information.
Gardaí have asked anyone who was in the St Patrick Street area between 7pm and 8pm, in particular anyone with camera video footage, or any motorists with dash cam footage to contact them at Anglesea Street Garda station on 021 452 2000.
The scene of the assault was cordoned off by gardaí for several hours to allow forensic teams to gather vital information.
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