GARDAÍ ARE investigating whether a man who apparently killed his partner in Tralee, Co Kerry, and then jumped to his death off cliffs, was married to two women in Ireland, with whom he had two families.
The search for the remains of Stephen Goodson-Ukiwo (33), originally from the west African republic of Benin, is continuing off the Kerry coast at Ballybunion.
Mr Goodson-Ukiwo was found by gardaí at the clifftop at Ballybunion on Tuesday evening, hours after the body of his Polish partner Katarzyna Bartkowiak (24) was found in a house on the Deerpark estate on the outskirts of Tralee.
A search of the house yielded paperwork, understood to be a marriage certificate, suggesting she and Mr Goodson-Ukiwo were husband and wife, although they are believed to have separated recently.
However, gardaí believe Mr Goodson-Ukiwo married an African woman in an Irish register office five years ago.
He had a child with that woman and is believed to have settled with his family in Midleton, Co Cork.
The paperwork found at the Deerpark property suggests he married Ms Bartkowiak while still married to the African woman based in Midleton. He and Ms Bartkowiak had one child.
It has also emerged Mr Goodson-Ukiwo faced deportation but had appealed the order.
As part of the appeal process, he was due to sign on at the Garda and Department of Justice immigration offices on Burgh Quay, Dublin, on the day Ms Bartkowiak was killed and he took his life.
However, Garda sources said he had signed on a number of times before; they described the process as “routine”.
The sources denied reports that a deportation order was signed for Mr Goodson-Ukiwo on Tuesday, the day of the apparent murder-suicide. “No deportation order was signed and he was not due to be deported on Tuesday if he had turned up to sign on,” said a source.
Gardaí familiar with the case said it was unclear whether Mr Goodson-Ukiwo had married Ms Bartkowiak, an EU passport holder, in an effort to strengthen his case to stay in Ireland.
However, sources said the fact they had a child together would be “far from typical of what would usually happen in marriages of convenience”.
An ambulance was dispatched to the house shortly before 3pm after Mr Goodson-Ukiwo and another person made calls to the emergency services relating to a disturbance at the house.
When paramedics arrived at the property at 3pm, they found Ms Bartkowiak’s body on a bed in an upstairs bedroom. She had been dead for up to 12 hours. Her 14- month-old son, Sean, was in the house but had not been harmed.
The results of a postmortem have not been released but sources said Ms Bartkowiak had been strangled.
The motive for her killing is unclear. However, she and Mr Goodson-Ukiwo had parted and are believed to have been under financial pressure after Ms Bartkowiak recently lost her job in a shop in Tralee.
Mr Goodson-Ukiwo’s car was found at Ballybunion on Tuesday afternoon and a short time later gardaí found him standing on top of a cliff over Ladies’ Beach. He threatened to jump and gardaí tried to talk him down for a number of hours but he jumped from the 150ft clifftop at about 10pm.
His body was seen in the water by the crew of local Coast Guard boat that had been on standby. However, it sank before it could be recovered and there has been no sign of it since.
DEEP SHOCK: FAMILY 'GREATLY SADDENED' AT CIRCUMSTANCES OF LOSS
AN “AMAZING person and wonderful mum, with so much potential in life” – those were the words used to describe Katarzyna Bartkowiak by her grief-stricken brother and aunt on their arrival in Ireland from their native Poznan in Poland yesterday.
In a statement to the media, they said they were deeply shocked to hear of the death of the sister and niece they called Kasia.
Ms Bartkowiak’s mother was murdered in Poland for her mobile phone a number of years ago.
“Kasia was greatly loved and her passing is a great loss to our family and to all her friends, especially to her young son, whom she loved dearly.”
“Words cannot explain how we feel at this time; we are greatly saddened by the circumstances of her death and are in disbelief at what happened.”
They offered their sympathies to the family of her “ex-partner”, Stephen Godson-Ukiwo, the man suspected of strangling her at her home late on Monday night or into the early hours of Tuesday. He later took his own life by jumping off a cliff in Ballybunion.
They said Ms Bartkowiak loved Ireland and had always wanted to stay in Tralee.
Their priority now was for the welfare of her baby son, Sean. They wanted to provide him with a “loving and caring future”.
“We would like to thank the friends of Kasia for their support and their kind words and we appreciate everyone who has helped us in this difficult time.
“We want to extend our many thanks also to the gardaí, HSE, emergency services, and all those who are helping us with everything at this difficult time.”
The family have asked that the media respect their privacy and stay away from a weekend service they are planning in Tralee, the details of which had yet to be finalised last night.
The statement to the media was issued by the family through Ms Bartkowiak's friends in Tralee. – ANNE LUCEY
