Gardaí are poised to open a murder inquiry today when they expect a postmortem examination to confirm that a 30-year-old mother of three died as a result of stab wounds in Clonakilty in west Cork.
The body of Rose Patterson of Park View, Clonakilty, was found in an upstairs flat at Connolly Street in the town at about 11.40am yesterday, but gardaí believe she had been dead for at least six hours at that stage.
Ms Patterson had a young son with a Turkish national, Hadim Kedik (32), and Mr Kedik was found unconscious at the flat which is located over the For Fir barber's shop where he worked for the past 4½ years since arriving in the west Cork town from Turkey.
The alarm was raised when Mr Kedik's employer, Justin Crowley, called to see why he had failed to turn up for work on Wednesday afternoon and he and another Turkish national working in the barber's shop, Ramazan Kelfalik, went upstairs and made the discovery.
The emergency services were alerted and Ms Patterson was pronounced dead at the scene by a local doctor, while Mr Kedik received some treatment at the scene before being taken to Cork University Hospital (CUH), where his condition was described as "stable".
Gardaí were also alerted and discovered that the couple's 2½-year-old-son, Firhan, had been in the flat at the time of the incident and he was yesterday being cared for by relatives.
Gardaí had later to break into Ms Patterson's home at Park View, where they found her other two children, Naomi (8) and Veronica (5), had spent the night alone after their mother failed to return home on Wednesday afternoon. Yesterday was Veronica's birthday.
It is understood Ms Patterson and Mr Kedik had an arrangement which involved Firhan staying overnight with his father on Wednesdays.
Gardaí were yesterday waiting for permission from doctors at CUH to interview Mr Kedik, but it is understood officers believe that wounds to his wrists and neck were self-inflicted.
Officers were yesterday trying to establish the last reported sightings of Ms Patterson alive and it is understood she went to Mr Kedik's flat sometime about 2pm.
Gardaí cordoned off the scene of the tragedy immediately on discovery of the body and a team from the Garda Technical Bureau in Dublin travelled to Clonakilty in the evening to carry out a forensic examination of the scene of the suspected killing.
Both were discovered in the open plan kitchen cum-livingroom and gardaí later recovered a knife from the kitchen they believe may have been used in a fatal assault.
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster also carried out a preliminary examination at the scene before Ms Patterson's body was removed late last night to CUH where Dr Bolster will begin a full postmortem examination this morning.
Supt Pat Maher, who is leading the investigation, said last night that gardaí were still treating the death as suspicious pending the outcome of the postmortem examination. He appealed to anyone who may have noticed anything in the Connolly Street area to contact them.
"This is a terrible tragedy for two families and we would appeal to anyone who heard anything or saw anything unusual in the Connolly Street area late on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, particularly from midnight on, to contact us on 023-21570."
Local taxi driver John Hurley, who was a neighbour of Ms Patterson in Park View, said: "It's desperately sad. I used to see her every day, and she would always salute you and have a smile for you.
"The children were always well turned out and well behaved - it's very sad for them."