Woman who was found dead in a burnt out car outside Doneraile has been named locally

Friday, 5 February 2021 10:00

72 year old Mary O'Keeffe from Dromahane was discovered in a car in woodland by a passerby yesterday afternoon.

Emergency services attended the scene at Dromdeer at around 3:30pm.

A man in his 60s who is originally from Limerick was rescued from a river nearby and taken to Cork University Hospital for treatment.

A post-mortem is due to take place today at CUH and Gardaí say the results will determine the course of their investigation.

Local Councillor Frank Roche was in the area at the time.

He told RedFM News what he witnessed:

"I'm an agriculture contractor so I happened to be working in the area, and as I approached the junction which I call Herbert's Cross I see an unmarked Garda car. Naturally I assumed it was an accident. But as I crossed the road, when I looked back, I see the emergency services were looking into the River Awbeg so at that stage I was fairly sure that they were looking for somebody in the water.

"And when I went home, I decided to come back up just to see if I could be of any assistance to anybody in the area, and at that stage I discovered that they were looking for a man in the water."

Gardaí in Fermoy are appealing for witnesses or anyone with dashcam footage of the area between 3pm and 5pm to contact them on 025 82 100