Updated 6.21 pm
GARDAÍ HAVE CONFIRMED that they are not looking for any other person in connection with the deaths of twin boys and their older brother found dead in Cork last night.
Post-mortems on the bodies of the two nine-year-old boys and their 21-year-old brother have been completed at Cork University Hospital.
The twins, Thomas and Patrick O’Driscoll, are believed to have been stabbed at their home in Charleville, and were discovered by another brother.
The scene was sealed off last night and technical examinations are still in progress. The older brother was found 16km away, just south of Buttevant a short time later.
A garda family liaison person has been appointed to help the family.
In a statement this morning, the management, staff, and pupils of the school the twins attended said they were “deeply shocked and saddened by the sudden and untimely deaths”.
They had been attending Banogue National School, Croom, Co Limerick for just over a year, and were in third class.
“This is a terrible tragedy for the family, the school and the whole community. We are deeply saddened by this event,” principal teacher Sheila Cagney said.
Our sympathy and thoughts are with the family and friends at this terrible time.
Cagney said the boys were “loving, energetic and full of fun”. She added that the National Education Psychological Service will be at the school today to offer support staff and children.
Father Tom Naughton, who visited the family last night, said the close-knit community was “shocked right through” by the incident.
“We’re all in shock, it’s so tragic,” he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, adding that people have been in touch with him asking to convey support to the family.
“It’s the most unnatural thing in the world to see a child dead, and to see your own child dead in unimaginable.”
Gardai in Charleville are appealing for witnesses or anyone with information to contact them on 022 31450, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.
- Additional reporting by Rónán Duffy
Originally published 7.18am
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