Gardaí are expected to begin a murder inquiry today following the death of a Co Wexford businessman who was assaulted over the Easter weekend.
Aidan Gahan, the owner of Mary's Mini Market and petrol station in Glenbrien, slipped into a coma following the incident which occurred in the early hours of Easter Monday outside McCormack's Bar in the village.
It was initially believed Mr Gahan would recover after he was assaulted in what was believed at the time to be a relatively minor incident. However, his condition deteriorated unexpectedly in recent days and yesterday morning he died.
Local gardaí are continuing to carry out inquiries in the area but confirmed that no arrests have been made to date. However, the assault is believed to have been witnessed by a number of people.
The alleged attacker is a young man from Glenbrien who is well known in the area.
He is believed to have punched Mr Gahan in the head in an attack which has now apparently caused the victim's death. Senior Garda sources said the investigation would not be upgraded until the results of the postmortem were known.
However, the same sources said the investigation would likely be immediately upgraded to a murder inquiry. One source said it was possible given the nature of the attack that the matter may quickly become a manslaughter investigation.
"But we will need to wait and see what the pathologist comes back with," said the source.
On the night he was assaulted, Mr Gahan, a 56-year-old father of three, had been on a night out with his wife Mary. After closing their shop for the evening at about 10pm, they went for a drink in Ballymurn and later returned to McCormack's Bar in Glenbrien, where they normally socialised, for a further drink.
It is understood a disturbance broke out in the bar which involved Mr Gahan. The shop owner was later asked to leave the bar which he did at about 1.30am with his wife.
It was shortly after this, while he was in the car park of the pub, that he was attacked by a man, believed to be local and aged in his late twenties or early thirties. Mr Gahan is understood to have fallen to the ground as a result of a punch thrown, sustaining serious head injuries.
Gardaí were immediately alerted and an ambulance was called which transferred the injured man to Wexford General Hospital where he underwent brain scans.
He was subsequently transferred to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin but failed to regain consciousness. He remained in intensive care until his condition deteriorated significantly over the last few days resulting in his death yesterday.