Gardaí are to prepare a file for the DPP after releasing without charge a taxi driver in his 60s arrested for questioning about a fatal hit and run over the weekend in Cork.
The man was arrested on the N27 Kinsale Road in Cork early on Saturday morning after father (49) of three was fatally injured after being struck by a car that failed to stop.
The victim has been named locally as consultant psychiatrist Dr Martin Lawlor, who worked with HSE South and had been director of the Centre for Recovery and Social Inclusion in Cork since 2006.
A native of Tralee in Co Kerry, Dr Lawlor worked in Cork but lived in Manchester with his wife and three children and was due to catch a flight from Cork back to the United Kingdom early on Saturday morning.
It’s understood he had been socialising with members of his psychiatry team from HSE South on Friday night and was walking back to the Cork International Hotel at Cork Airport when he was struck.
Gardaí believe the incident happened some time after 4pm, but the car that struck Dr Lawlor failed to stay at the scene. His body was spotted by another motorist who raised the alarm around 5.30pm. Paramedics attended Dr Lawlor, but he was pronounced dead at the scene by a local GP, and his body was removed to Cork University Hospital.
Gardaí mounted a protective cordon and put diversions in place when one of the gardaí noticed a taxi with a damaged windscreen and spoke to the driver, and then arrested him.
The man, who is from Cork city, was taken to Togher Garda station where he was detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 for questioning. He was questioned until late on Saturday night when he was released without charge.
Meanwhile Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis carried out a postmortem on the body of Dr Lawlor at CUH on Saturday afternoon, and his findings will be included in the Garda file for the DPP.
The road was closed for Garda examination of the scene, and the road reopened late on Saturday afternoon.
Meanwhile gardaí in Togher appealed to anyone who may have travelled the Kinsale road between 4am and 5.30am or witnessed the incident to contact them at Togher Garda station on 021-4947120.
The death of Dr Lawlor - described by one colleague “as highly respected and a brilliant doctor” - brings to 14 the number of people who have died in Cork road incidents so far this year.
