A second man has been arrested by gardaí investigating the murder of national school teacher Ashling Murphy (23) outside Tullamore, Co Offaly, last Wednesday.
Gardaí said this man, aged in his 30s, was arrested “in the eastern region” in connection with the murder investigation.
He was being held under the provisions of Section 30 Offences Against the State Act 1939.
He was being detained for questioning on suspicion of withholding information from gardaí investigating the murder rather than being suspected of any involvement in the killing of the national school teacher.
Separately, gardaí are continuing to question a 31-year-old man who has a partner and young children living in the midlands.
He was arrested when discharged from hospital in Dublin on Tuesday morning and was taken for questioning to Tullamore Garda station in Co Offaly, where the murder is being investigated.
That man is a suspect for the murder and when he was detained on Tuesday Garda Headquarters, Phoenix Park, Dublin, confirmed he was being questioned “on suspicion of murder”.
Gardaí believe the person who killed Ms Murphy was carrying a weapon and discarded it, possibly in a bin or by a roadside away from the crime scene. Garda search teams are still trying to find this weapon. Those efforts look set to continue for several days.
The crime scene on the Grand Canal at Cappincur just outside Tullamore remains sealed off, almost a week after the murder last Wednesday.
The murder suspect arrested on Tuesday had been discharged from a Dublin hospital that morning. He had presented there last Thursday with serious injuries, giving rise to suspicions among medical staff, who contacted gardaí.
Once the man was discharged on Tuesday he was arrested under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, which allowed for him to be questioned for up to 24 hours without charge.
He was taken in a Garda vehicle to Tullamore Garda station as Ms Murphy’s funeral was under way at nearby Mountbolus.
Detectives seeking to question him had to wait until he was deemed well enough, physically and mentally, to be discharged and interviewed. The man’s period of detention is set to expire on Wednesday evening, at the latest, at which point the DPP must recommend he be charged or released.
Detectives had built up a picture of some of the suspect’s movements last week before his admission to hospital.
Gardaí uncovered CCTV footage of a man on a bicycle in the Tullamore area on the day of the murder. They believe that bicycle is the mountain bike later left by the killer at the murder scene after he fled on foot when disturbed by two women.
