GARDAI investigating the murder of the Co Kildare shop owner, Mrs Joyce Quinn (44), confirmed last night that she was raped. Further forensic tests were carried out on her body at Naas General Hospital yesterday morning.
After Thursday's post mortem, the State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, said she died from a single stab wound to the heart and had a second stab wound on her neck.
Mrs Quinn's car was found by her son David (16), close to her shop in the village of Milltown on Tuesday night. The drawer of the cash till which could have contained up to Pounds 400 was empty on the back seat. There was blood on the front seats.
Her semi naked body was found by a neighbour searching with another man on Wednesday morning, less than three miles away on the Curragh.
Gardai have still not found the murder weapon, despite three days of intensive searching of the Curragh area and in the grounds of Milltown national school. Her Citroen AX had been driven onto the grass behind the school, out of sight of the road.
Gardai are speculating that her killer or killers may have driven her body out to the Curragh and returned the car to where it was found. There is speculation that she was killed by someone with local knowledge. A neighbour of her shop in Milltown said yesterday she would not have spoken to a stranger.
On Thursday, gardai found the keys to her car in the school grounds and another set of keys, believed to be shop keys, near where her body was found.
Mrs Quinn's mobile phone, which her husband, Comdt Ray Quinn, said she carried with her for security, has not been found. He said she also carried a can of the anti assault aerosol, Mace.
Yesterday, Comdt Quinn issued a statement appealing for a "special effort" in helping gardai in the search for Ms Josephine Dollard who went missing in the Co Kildare area 11 weeks ago. "At least our anxiety while Joyce was missing was short lived," he said.
He repeated his call for improvements in the prison system, saying: "The facts speak for themselves."
Gardai have repeated there is no evidence to link this murder with Ms Dollard's disappearance or the murder of the civil servant, Ms Marilyn Rynn, in Dublin before Christmas.
There were similarities in both murders, a Garda source said. Both women were found semi naked in a isolated areas, their bodies dumped in thick undergrowth. Both were in the same age group. However at this stage, he said, these were just similarities.
Mrs Quinn's body was taken from Naas General Hospital to a funeral home in Kildare town last night. She was laid in an open coffin, her body covered with satin and a red rose. Her face was unmarked.
Friends and neighbours waited outside in driving snow to file past the coffin, offering condolences to Comdt Quinn and his three children, Nicole (21), David (16) and Lisa (14). Chief Supt Sean Feely, who is leading the investigation, also paid his respects, along with Comdt Quinn's Army colleagues.
At the removal Mass, attended by hundreds of people, the parish priest, Father Mall Kelly, said the family's pain went "beyond understanding".
The President, Mrs Robinson, has said she will attend the funeral at Brigid's Church in Kildare at noon today. The priest who married the Quinns almost 23 years ago will offer the Mass.
A Garda sub aqua unit is expected to be used today in the continuing search for the murder weapon.
