The brother of the woman taxi-driver murdered in Galway at the weekend, Mrs Eileen Costello O'Shaughnessy (47), believes she was killed for less than £100. Appealing to the public to help gardai find his sister's killer, Mr Martin Costello said: "I would plead with anybody to come forward that has even the slightest bit of information, as it may be vital.
"Anyone who would kill for so little money is a very dangerous person. I genuinely think she'd have put up a battle to mind her boss's bag of money, however much was in it. We think it might have been less than £100."
Gardai are also confident that robbery was the motive for the murder of Mrs O'Shaughnessy, whose battered body was discovered nine miles outside the city on Monday afternoon.
In particular gardai want to speak to anyone who travelled along the Tuam road either to or from Galway city between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Sunday.
Mr Costello said the family hoped that security videotapes at the industrial park on the outskirts of the city, where the victim's blood-stained taxi was found abandoned late on Sunday night, might give some clues.
Yesterday gardai were examining the video but, according to Supt Tony Finnerty, who is leading the investigation, it may take days to complete.
Mr Costello runs a bus company in Corofin, Co Galway, where Mrs O'Shaughnessy, a separated mother of two grown-up children, also lived with their widowed mother.
He described his sister as "a very religious person" who lived for her family, her church, her taxi and a game of cards.
"Eileen was a very pious person," he said. "If she had a half-hour off work in the middle of the day she'd try to get Mass rather than have her dinner."
Following an appeal, gardai contacted a young woman who hitched a lift in the vicinity of where Mrs O'Shaughnessy's body was found late on Sunday night, but she was unable to help.
The silver-coloured Toyota Carina taxi has been taken to Dublin for detailed examination and the team of 60 gardai and detectives continued house-to-house inquiries in the city and around the townland of Knockdoemore throughout the day.
The removal takes place at 5.30 this evening from Burns Funeral Parlour in Tuam to a service at St Colman's Church in Corofin at 8 p.m. The burial will take place in the local Kilmoylan Cemetery following Requiem Mass at noon tomorrow.