GARDAÍ BELIEVE the man who tied up and gagged his partner in her Co Roscommon home made a call to a friend to raise the alarm before he took his own life but the call was mistaken for a joke and ignored.
Detectives working on the case now believe the woman, separated mother of two Collette Keane (54), was tied up some time on Monday night.
She was tied and taped by her wrists and ankles to her bed in her home at Anvil Court in Roscommon town and had a sponge stuffed into her mouth before being gagged.
Her partner, Paul Timothy (47), then left her there and went drinking in Galway. He made a call to a man to raise the alarm about Ms Keane but the man who received the call thought it was a joke and did not act on it.
On Wednesday Mr Timothy joined a tourist’s coach party in Galway that took in a number of stops including the Cliffs of Moher. He failed to return to the coach at the lunchtime departure time and the alarm was raised.
After a search in waters, the Coast Guard recovered his body. Gardaí investigating his death are not looking for anybody else.
When Mr Timothy’s remains were recovered, gardaí were called and as they searched his personal items, including his phone, they established who he was and where he lived.
When they went to the address at Anvil Court in the centre of the town late on Wednesday night they could not get in. They heard noises inside and broke the door down to the upstairs flat, one of four in the rental property.
They then found Ms Keane in a weakened and distressed state. She was taken by ambulance to Portiuncula Hospital, where she was still being treated last night.
She is believed to have been assaulted before being tied up and gagged. The attack has shocked people who knew the couple. They had been going out for less than a year.
Mr Timothy, who was from England but had lived in Ireland since he was in his 20s and worked as a painter and decorator, is believed to have had a drink problem.
Garda sources who spoke to The Irish Times said there were unlikely to be any criminal prosecutions in the case.
“The person who appears to have carried out the attack [on Ms Keane] is dead and while the person who got the call about her failed to act on it, it seems he just did not believe it so it’s unlikely there would be anything criminal on that aspect of the case.”
Ms Keane who has worked in Tesco is not believed to have been working in recent times.
There are eight houses in the quiet cul de sac estate, just off Church Street in the centre of Roscommon town, where she was found.
While gardaí believe Ms Keane was assaulted, her more serious health issues arise from being tied and taped up for at least two days before being found.
Garda sources said that the skin and flesh on her ankles and wrists had been cut from trying to struggle free. She was also dehydrated, exhausted and traumatised.
