There was a sense of numbness in Charleville yesterday evening as relatives of twin brothers Tom and Paddy O'Driscoll gathered outside the bungalow where their bodies were found.
Dozens of relatives and friends came to comfort and grieve with their parents, Tom and Helen – settled members of the Traveller community – but most seemed to be in a state of shock as a hushed silence hung over the scene of the tragedy in north Cork.
Young men and women stood in silence as older relatives chatted quietly among themselves. Gardaí put up tape to cordon off the bungalow – one of four in a row on the outskirts of the town heading towards Limerick.
Then news broke that the twins’ older brother Jonathan had been found dead in the ruins of Buttevant Castle some 15km away and that gardaí were not treating his death as suspicious. One man shook his head in sad disbelief.
Local curate Fr Tom Naughton arrived and led the family and relatives in prayer outside the house.
Gardaí kept the scene preserved overnight pending the arrival of a pathologist today to carry out a preliminary examination of the bodies of the twins in the room where they were found.
“It’s so sad – another terrible tragedy for Charleville,” said one visibly shocked local as he recalled that the it was almost two years to the day since eight-year-old Anthony Ward was smothered by his mother Diane at their home in Harrison Place in Charleville.
Paddy and Tom O’Driscoll had recently returned to school at Banogue National School and it is expected the HSE will provide counselling for pupils and those traumatised by the tragedy.
Gardaí under Supt Pat McCarthy of Mallow Garda station have established that Jonathan O’Driscoll was minding his two brothers yesterday afternoon while their parents – who are both in their 40s – were in Kilmallock, Co Limerick.
Gardaí said he had taken his two young brothers to Doneraile Wildlife Park yesterday afternoon and that all three seemed to be enjoying the visit before returning to the family home in Charleville some time before 5pm.
Locals said the O’Driscoll family had been living in Charleville for a number of years and are well regarded by their neighbours.
