Gardaí in Cork have arrested a man for questioning in connection with a serious assault which led to the death of a 65-year-old man in hospital two weeks later.
Detectives arrested the man, who is in his late 20s, at an address in the Kanturk area, at around 9am on Thursday morning for questioning about the assault on Finbarr Lehane outside a pub in Kanturk on October 24th, 2016.
The man was arrested under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act which allows gardaí detain suspects for up to 24 hours. He was brought to Mallow garda station for questioning.
Mr Lehane from Glen South in Banteer died at Cork University Hospital on November 7th, some two weeks after being assaulted outside the pub in Kanturk town centre.
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster subsequently carried out a post-mortem on the body of Mr Lehane who suffered serious head injuries in the assault outside the pub at around 1.20am.
Gardaí have not released the results of Dr Bolster’s post-mortem for operational reasons but it is understood that Mr Lehane suffered blunt force trauma to the head in the assault.
It is understood that Mr Lehane received a blow to the head from his assailant and fell back, hitting his head off the pavement and sustaining serious head injuries which rendered him unconscious.
Garda technical experts carried out a forensic examination of the scene, have taken statements from a number of eye witnesses and have also studied CCTV footage of the incident.
It is understood that gardaí have also spoken to a number of people who were in the pub earlier in the evening where Mr Lehane was accosted a number of times by a man from the Kanturk area.
