Gardaí have suspended the questioning of a man (31) who was arrested yesterday in relation to an attack in Co Limerick where a five-month-old girl, a three-year- old boy, their mother and a family friend were stabbed to death.
The man, who was arrested drinking in a pub in Kilkee, Co Clare, and knew all four victims, is being treated in Cork University Hospital.
Questioning was suspended to facilitate medical attention for the man.
The bodies of Sarah Hines (25) and her children, Reece (3) and five-month-old baby Amy Hines, were discovered at a house in the Hazelgrove estate Gortboy, in Newcastle West, just before 2pm yesterday.
The body of Ms Hines’s friend, Alicia Brough (20) from Rockchapel, Co Cork, was also found in the house. All four had been stabbed.
The two children were found in an upstairs bedroom, while the women were found in a room downstairs.
State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy and assistant State pathologist Dr Michael Curtis attended the scene this afternoon before the bodies were removed and taken to Limerick Regional Hospital.
Just over two hours after the four bodies were found, the man was arrested in a pub in the west Clare seaside town of Kilkee on suspicion of all four murders.
The suspect phoned a retired garda yesterday afternoon informing him of what had happened at the house, and he immediately contacted gardaí at Newcastle West.
Local gardaí were alerted at 1.35pm and went straight to the scene where the bodies were discovered. It is believed they had been dead for a number of hours.
Gardaí later traced the suspect’s call to a Kilkee public pay phone and after a major search of the town found him drinking in a pub. He was last night being questioned in Limerick about the killings.