Detectives resumed interviewing a 42-year-old man on Wednesday morning about the murder of a mother of two in Mallow last week after the man opted to suspend his questioning overnight.
The man, a native of Midleton in east Cork, was arrested on Monday afternoon for questioning about the murder of 31-year-old Paula Canty at her flat in Mallow last Friday.
It is understood that gardaí identified the man from CCTV footage as being with Ms Canty when she was out socialising around Mallow town late last Thursday night.
Gardaí arrested the man, who was well known to Ms Canty, at Mallow Railway Station shortly after 3pm and conveyed him to Mallow Garda station for questioning about the murder.
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It is understood the man, who is unemployed, had travelled from Cork to Mallow to pick up a social welfare payment and was arrested as he was about to return to Cork City.
He is detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984, which allows gardaí detain suspects for up to 24 hours before they have to be either charged with an offence or released.
Gardaí launched a murder investigation on Saturday after a postmortem examination by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster confirmed Ms Canty had died as a result of foul play.
A male caller had contacted the emergency services at about 10.30am on Friday to say that a woman had self-harmed at her flat in the Belfry.
But when emergency services arrived, paramedics discovered the woman unresponsive with a stab wound to the upper body but no sign of any injury consistent with the report of self-harming.
Ms Canty was pronounced dead at the scene. Gardaí believe she had been stabbed in the early hours of Friday morning and had been dead for several hours when paramedics arrived
A senior investigative officer was appointed and an incident room set up at Mallow Garda station with all the necessary resources in anticipation of the death proving to be a murder.
Gardaí have since renewed their appeal to the public for assistance, saying they want to speak to any witnesses or anyone with camera footage, including dashcam recordings from Bridewell Lane.
They are especially keen to speak to anyone with footage from the area between 9pm on Thursday and 10am on Friday morning. They can be contacted at Mallow Garda Station on 022 31450.
Funeral arrangements have yet to be announced for Ms Canty, who is survived by her mother Sinead, her daughters, Alyisha and Aoibhe, and her siblings Darragh, Donna, Latoya, David and Rianna.
In memory of her daughter, Sinead Canty has set up the Paula Canty Memorial GoFundMe page with all proceeds going to the Street Angels charity that assists people living on the streets.
Ms Canty has set a target on the GoFundMe page of €4,500 and as of Wednesday morning, some 78 people had already donated almost €2,240 for the charity.
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