GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING the murder of a 27-year-old man in Cork city at the weekend say that they are keeping an open mind on the killing and are exploring a number of avenues of inquiry in their investigation.
Eddie Gallagher, Ardcullen in Hollyhill on Cork’s northside, was fatally stabbed during a row on Friar’s Walk on the city’s southside sometime about 6.30am on Sunday and was taken by ambulance to Cork University Hospital where he died at 8am.
Gardaí immediately requested the services of the State Pathologist’s Office and Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Margaret Bolster carried out a postmortem on the dead man at Cork University Hospital on Sunday afternoon.
While gardaí are not releasing the results of the postmortem for operational reasons, it is believed the postmortem established that Mr Gallagher died from a single stab wound to the chest and that the fatal wound was inflicted with a knife.
Gardaí have established that Mr Gallagher took a taxi to Friar’s Walk at about 6.30am on Sunday and it is understood they have located the driver of the taxi and spoken to him about leaving Mr Gallagher outside a house on Friar’s Walk.
Gardaí are trying to establish if Mr Gallagher may have been involved in a row in the house which spilled out on to the roadway, or whether he was stabbed on the street outside where gardaí found blood at a number of locations.
Gardaí believe there were two people in the house at the time and detectives have spoken to them in a bid to try and piece together what happened to Mr Gallagher, who would have been friendly with a person from the house.
Garda technical experts carried out a forensic examination of the roadway which remained closed for several hours on Sunday, while a forensic examination of the house was ongoing yesterday as detectives carried out door-to-door inquiries in the area.
Detectives are also investigating reports that a car pulled up and that Mr Gallagher may have been involved in a row with some of the occupants of that vehicle. It is understood gardaí have traced the car and some people who were in the vehicle have spoken to gardaí.
Gardaí believe they have identified a man in his 50s or 60s wearing dark clothing whom they believe may have witnessed how Mr Gallagher sustained his fatal wound.
They have nonetheless renewed their appeal to anyone who may have been in the Friar’s Walk area between 6.30am-7.15am and saw anything unusual to contact them at Anglesea Garda station on 021-4522000.
