Gardaí believe that a 31-year-old mother of two stabbed to death in her home in north Cork may have been dead for several hours before the emergency services were alerted.
Detectives are satisfied following the receipt of postmortem results that Paula Canty was stabbed to death in her flat in Mallow some time in the early hours of Friday morning.
However, the emergency services were only alerted to the incident at 10.30am when a caller rang to say a woman had slashed her wrists in the top floor flat in the Belfry on Bridewell Lane.
When they arrived at the flat, they found Ms Canty unresponsive after suffering a stab wound to the upper body but showing no signs of having slashed her wrists as reported by the caller.
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Garda suspicions were aroused, and they were confirmed by Assistant State Pathologist Mr Margot Bolster, after a postmortem found the fatal stab wound was not self-inflicted by Ms Canty.
The garda belief that Ms Canty was fatally assaulted in the early hours of Friday morning is also supported by confirmation from CCTV footage that she was around Mallow town very late on Thursday night.
Gardaí are remaining tight-lipped about their investigation but informed sources say that officers are satisfied with the progress they are making as they try to track down the killer.
Up to 40 officers, including both detectives and uniformed police, are involved in the investigation which is being co-ordinated from an Incident Room at Mallow Garda station.
Gardaí have renewed their appeal to the public for assistance, saying they want to speak to any witnesses or anyone with camera footage, including dashcam recordings from Bridewell Lane.
They are especially keen to speak to anyone with footage from the area between 9pm on Thursday and 10am on Friday morning. They can be contacted at Mallow Garda station on 022 31450.
A native of Kinsale in west Cork, Ms Canty is survived by her mother, Sinead, her daughters, Alyisha and Aoibhe and her siblings, Darragh, Donna, Latoya, David and Rianna.
In memory of her daughter, Sinead Canty has set up the Paula Canty Memorial Go Fund Page with all proceeds going to the Street Angels charity which assists people living on the streets.
Ms Canty has set a target on the GoFundMe page of €4,500 and as of Monday night, some 40 people had already donated almost €1,200.
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