GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING the murder of a 50-year-old mother of two in Dublin’s Phoenix Park were last night questioning two men.
The men are suspected of withholding information about the murder in August of Eugenia Bratis. The deceased was from Timisoara in Romania. The two men under arrest last night are also Romanian nationals.
They were arrested yesterday morning on Dublin’s North Circular Road. Aged 36 and 18 years, they were being held at Finglas and Cabra Garda stations.
Gardaí now believe Ms Bratis was killed by people known to her in the Romanian community in Dublin. They believe she was robbed of the proceeds of her begging during the fatal attack.
They are trying to establish if she was killed in a dispute over a begging location in Dublin city centre. However, the exact motive for the killing has not yet been established.
Ms Bratis was the mother of two grown-up children in their 20s who are still living in Romania. She had been seen in the months before her murder begging in Dublin, mainly around O’Connell Bridge and O’Connell Street.
She had never come to the Garda’s attention. Gardaí believe she was living in hostels and occasionally sleeping rough.
Gardaí investigating her murder took the unusual step of issuing a photograph of her remains. A number of days after the picture was released, along with photographs of the dead woman’s clothes and personal items, gardaí were contacted by people who believed the remains were those of Ms Bratis.
Gardaí are appealing to anybody who knew Ms Bratis or who was in contact with her to phone 01-6667400 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800-666111.