An area inside the five-star Ballyfin Demesne hotel in Co Laois has been sealed off as a crime scene after a man died there in violent circumstances on Tuesday evening not long after arriving from the United States.
Though a postmortem on the victim’s remains was awaited to confirm the direction of the criminal investigation now under way, all the resources of a homicide inquiry have been assigned to the case.
The victim of the fatal attack on Tuesday evening is aged in his 60s, and was a guest at the hotel, where he was discovered injured and unresponsive in one of the communal areas.
A man arrested by gardaí for questioning after the apparent fatal assault is in his 30s. The Irish Times understands the victim and arrested man were known to each other.
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The arrested man, who was described as having “vulnerabilities”, has been detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act at a Garda station in the east of the country. That allows gardaí to interview the man for up to 24 hours without charge, at which point he must be charged with an offence or released without charge.
“Gardaí are investigating all the circumstances surrounding the death,” a Garda statement said. The Garda Technical Bureau and Office of the State Pathologist were contacted to attend the scene, which is understood to be a bathroom or changing area at a communal facility inside the hotel.
Gardaí said a senior investigating officer has been appointed to lead the inquiry and an incident room was established at Portlaoise Garda station. A family liaison officer has been appointed to support the family of the deceased.
Ballyfin Demesne – where a one-night stay costs between €600 and €2,500 – is situated at the foot of the Slieve Bloom mountains in more than 600 acres of parkland.
It has hosted many celebrities since it opened in 2011, including George Clooney and his wife Amal as well as Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, who honeymooned there.
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