Hi °C | Lo °C A man has been charged with the murder of a mother of three whose body was discovered in a bedroom of her fire-gutted home.
Darren Murphy (36), of Dan Desmond Villas, Passage West, Cork, did not respond when he was charged before Cork District Court with the murder of Olivia Dunlea-O'Brien (36).
Mr Murphy was silent throughout the three-minute hearing. He kept his head bowed, nodding only to confirm his identity.
Ms Dunlea-O'Brien's badly burned body was discovered in an upstairs bedroom of her semi-detached home on Pembroke Crescent, Passage West, Cork at 1am last Sunday.
Judge Leo Malone was told by Det Garda Anthony Harrington that Mr Murphy made no reply to gardai when cautioned and charged at Togher garda station.
He had been arrested at his Passage West home in connection with Ms Dunlea-O'Brien's death at 10.30pm on Sunday. He is charged with her murder, contrary to common law.
The suspect was known to Ms Dunlea-O'Brien.
Free legal aid was sanctioned after the court heard that he is not working.
Inspector Finbarr O'Sullivan said the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had sanctioned the murder charge.
Solicitor Emmet Boyle told the court there were concerns for his client's welfare and he was asking that he be given a psychiatric assessment while in custody.
The judge remanded Mr Murphy in custody to appear by video-link before Cork District Court tomorrow.
Because a murder charge is involved, bail can only be dealt with by the High Court.
Wounds
Ms Dunlea-O'Brien was found dead in her two-storey semi-detached home when gardai and fire brigade units were alerted to a blaze by neighbours.
She was home alone as her children were with their father in Cork city. It is believed she died from stab wounds.
The fire erupted in the house shortly after the young woman had returned from the Rochestown Inn.
Ms Dunlea-O'Brien is survived by her parents Jimmy and Ann, her two sisters, her former husband Adrian, and her three children, Aaron (12), Megan (10) and Daragh (9).
Ms Dunlea-O'Brien was originally from the Ballinlough area of Cork city but had lived in Passage West for over a decade.
Irish Independent
