Man remanded over Cork murder

A man has been remanded in custody charged with the murder of a woman whose body was found following a house fire at her home in Co Cork early on Sunday morning.

Darren Murphy (36) of Dan Desmond Villas in Passage West, Cork appeared at Cork District Court today changed with the murder of Olivia Dunlea O’Brien (36).

The mother of three found dead in an upstairs bedroom of her family home at Pembroke Crescent in Passage West, Co Cork.  A postmortem revealed that Ms Dunlea O’Brien had been stabbed a number of times in the upper body.

Det Garda Anthony Harrington gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution. He told the court Mr Murphy made no reply when the single charge was put to him.

Insp Finbarr O'Sullivan asked for the accused to be remanded in custody to appear again in court on Thursday for the service of documents.

Judge Leo Malone granted the application and remanded Mr Murphy in custody to appear in court on Thursday via video link.

He also granted Mr Murphy legal aid after being told by defence solicitor Emmet Boyle that Mr Murphy was not working.

He also directed the prison services to carry out a psychiatric examination of Mr Murphy after Mr Boyle said he had certain concerns about his client's well-being.