An eastern European man was killed and another was injured following a stabbing incident at a house in Nenagh, Co Tipperary in the early hours of yesterday.
The victims, both understood to be either Latvian or Ukrainian, were attending a house party in the Coachyard area of the town when a fight broke out between 1.30am and 1.45am, during which both men were stabbed. One man in his 30s was stabbed several times and died at the scene.
The second man, understood to be in his 50s, was stabbed once during the struggle and his injuries are not believed to be life threatening.
He was admitted to Nenagh General Hospital following the attack where his condition was said to be comfortable last night. It is understood that the men were among a group which had been drinking in the house, which is in a small estate close to the town centre in Nenagh, for several hours from Saturday evening.
Gardaí were called to the scene at around 1.45am yesterday and the area was sealed off. The Garda forensic team began work at the scene yesterday afternoon and the State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy attended to conduct a postmortem.
Gardaí in Nenagh said yesterday they were following a definite line of inquiry following preliminary investigations at the scene, which carried on throughout the night, and were hopeful of an early arrest in the case.
They were however last night continuing to carry out door-to-door inquiries in the usually quiet estate where locals were said to be deeply shocked by the events. Several eastern European immigrants have rented houses in the Coachyard estate.