A 34-year-old man has appeared in court charged with the murder of Gillian Curran in Waterford city. Marcus O’Neill, of O’Brien Street, Waterford city, appeared before a special sitting of Gorey District Court on Sunday evening charged under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.
Det Sergeant. Mick Bourke gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution. He told the court that Mr O’Neill made no reply when charged with the murder of Ms Curran at a residence at O’Brien Street, Waterford, on Saturday.
There was no application for bail as the District Court has no jurisdiction to consider bail on a murder charge.
Ms Curran, originally from Sweetbriar in Tramore, Co Waterford, was found in an unresponsive state by emergency services and gardaí after they entered a house on O’Brien Street at 10am. Ms Curran was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.
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It is understood Ms Curran worked for Ballybeg Resource Centre.
The accused was represented by Andrew Bolger, instructed by solicitor Lana Doherty, who made an application for free legal aid, which was granted.
Judge Kevin Staunton remanded the accused in custody with an order that he get medical and psychiatric attention. He will appear before Waterford District Court next Tuesday via video link.
A senior investigating officer has been appointed to lead the investigation, and an incident room has been established at Waterford Garda station. A family liaison officer has also been assigned to support the family.
The scene at the terraced two-storey house, located five minutes from Waterford Garda station, was sealed off after the incident, allowing for a Garda Technical Bureau examination. The office of the State pathologist was notified for a postmortem.
A Garda spokesperson who provided an update said: “The findings from the postmortem will assist gardaí in determining the course of their investigation.”
Gardaí have appealed for witnesses to contact them, and are seeking any available camera footage, including dashcam recordings, from those who were in the vicinity of O’Brien Street at the time of the incident. Anyone with information is asked to contact Waterford Garda station on (051) 305322 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.
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