Gardaí in Cork say a postmortem will be crucial in the investigation into the death of a woman (84) who died in hospital two days after being allegedly assaulted.
The woman, who has been named locally as Nigerian-born Stella Nnamdi of Carrigaline, died at Cork University Hospital (CUH) at around 3.30pm on Tuesday.
Ms Nnamdi had been brought to CUH by ambulance on Tuesday morning after she became unwell at her family home at Garrydhu Drive off Kilmoney Road in Carrigaline
It is understood doctors at CUH found that Ms Nnamdi had suffered a brain bleed. Gardaí are trying to establish if the brain bleed was linked to an alleged assault on her on Sunday.
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State Pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers is due to begin a postmortem on Ms Nnamdi at the morgue in CUH at 1.30pm today.
“Much will depend on whether the postmortem establishes a link between the assault and the brain bleed which we understand may have led to this lady’s death,” said a Garda source.
Gardaí were called at around 10am on Sunday to the two-storey house at Garrydhu Drive where Ms Nnamdi has lived with her daughter, Ruby, for almost a decade
Ruby had called the gardaí and reported that threats had been made against her and her mother following an assault on them in the house by a person who was known to them.
It is understood that Ms Nnamdi’s daughter reported that she had been assaulted in the kitchen by a man and she had gone next door to a neighbour’s house to get assistance to restrain the man.
When she returned home, she found her mother in a disoriented state and alleging that she had been pushed and pulled down the stairs by the same man who had assaulted her.
Gardaí arrived and arrested a man under mental health legislation, and he was brought to Cork University Hospital for committal, but it is understood he was discharged some hours later.
Yesterday at around 5pm following Ms Nnamdi’s death, gardaí arrested a man (38) at an address in Carrigaline for an alleged assault at her home on Sunday morning.
The man was taken to Togher Garda station where he was medically assessed as being fit to be interviewed and gardaí began questioning him around 6pm about the assault on Ms Nnamdi.
The man was detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act which allows gardaí to detain suspects for up to 24 hours before they must be charged or released without charge.
However, the man exercised his right at midnight to rest overnight so questioning only resumed at 8am this morning which means his period of detention will not expire until early on Thursday.
Meanwhile Garda technical experts are continuing to carry out a forensic examination of Ms Nnamdi’s home in Carrigaline, while gardaí are also conducting door-to-door inquiries in the area.
