GARDAI recovered five rifles and a revolver in the 44 hour siege which ended peacefully in Co Cavan yesterday.
The concluding stage of the siege began at 8 a.m. when Garda negotiators persuaded Mr Gerrit Isenborger (42) to hand over three rifles and the handgun. He had surrendered two other rifles and a bayonet the previous evening.
Gardai who entered the house at 8.31 a.m., "at the invitation of Mr Isenborger", found the body of Ms Pauline Isenborger (82) inside.
"His mother was in a bed, dead," said Supt P.J. Browne, the officer commanding the operation. He said he was "treating the entire matter as a matter of suspicion" but it would be imprudent to say anything more about it.
At a press conference after the siege ended, Supt Browne said Mr Isenborger had been detained for the unlawful possession of fire arms last Wednesday.
A county sheriff and two assistants were shot and injured when they went to enforce an eviction order at Mr Isenborger's home on Wednesday afternoon.
Supt Browne said Mr Isenborger had been crying when gardai entered the house, and "on behalf of all gardai who dealt with him I want to sympathise with him on the death of his mother."
He thanked the local community for putting up with the disruption caused by the Garda operation, and especially those who lived close to the siege house and who had been prevented from returning to their farms to feed their cattle.
He also paid tribute to Insp Tighe Foley and Det Supt Bill Somers, who had negotiated the end to the siege. Insp Foley had been first into the house after the man placed his remaining weapons outside.
Mr Isenborger had surrendered without conditions. "In real terms we gave nothing, it wasn't a barter situation," Supt Browne said.
Supt Browne would give no further details of the weapons, one of which is believed to be a high powered hunting rifle.
He said he now believed Mr Isenborger had told the truth on Wednesday evening, when he told gardai his mother had passed away at about six o'clock that evening.
He would not speculate on the cause of death. Later officers would not say whether tablets had been found at the house.
Supt Browne said he thought the man had not slept at night and "as darkness fell it was a particularly precarious situation."
He said gardai had now learned that Mr Isenborger was born in Dusseldorf, Germany, in August 1953 and had come to Ireland in 1972. He had lived in Sligo, Galway and other parts of the west of Ireland before coming to Cavan with his mother two years ago.
"My understanding is that Mr Isenborger had been in possession of these firearms under permit in Germany since the early 1970s." Mr Isenborger had now given him the permit.
A .22 rifle was held under licence in this State. It was renewed within the last year by Ballyconnell gardai. Asked how the man had got the licence, officers said it had not originated in the area but was only renewed there.
Assistant Commissioner Joe Long and Chief Supt Colm Rooney paid tribute to the negotiating team and to the way the operation was run.
Mr Isenborger remained at the scene for two hours after the siege ended, talking to gardai. They said he was very upset.
It appeared that the negotiators had agreed he would be allowed stay until his mother's body was removed from the house to Cavan General Hospital at 10.30 a.m. Shortly afterwards he was brought to Ballyconnell Garda station, where he received medical attention and breakfast before questioning.
He was smoking a cigarette as he emerged from the Garda car, wearing a green jacket, a jumper, a blue scarf, trousers and boots.
Supt Browne said he was detained under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, and there would be further consultations with the Director of Public Prosecutions. He would also be contacting the German embassy, although there had been no contact with any relatives of Mr Isenborger in Germany.
The Austrian businessman who secured the eviction order which led to the siege said he was pleased it had ended. "Thank God, that's all I can say," he said.
"I hope he's never coming back here," he added.
Asked if he thought it would now be difficult to sell the 40 acre holding he said: "I don't think, so." So far as he was aware his potential buyers were still interested and he would be contacting them on Monday.
Mr Hehle (55) said he had not been directly involved in the decision to send in the bailiffs. "Since the court order I didn't do anything. I didn't tell them to do it or not to do it."
Asked if he felt sorry for Mr Isenborger he said: "No. It doesn't matter to me the problems he has now ... It was completely wrong to take a man's land and a man's house."