GARDAI have arrested a woman in connection with the suspicious death of four-year old Limerick boy Mason TJ O’Connell Conway.
Little Mason was discovered with serious head injuries in a house in Rathbane, Limerick, on March 13 this year, and died from his injuries three days later at Children’s Hospital Ireland, Temple Street, Dublin.
A garda spokesman confirmed today: “A female in her 20s has been arrested under a warrant issued by a District Court Judge under Section 10 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984, as part of the ongoing investigation into the death of a four-year-old boy in Rathbane, Limerick, in March 2021.
“The female is currently detained at Roxboro Road Garda Station under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984.”
On August 12 last, a man in his 30s and a woman in her 20s were arrested by gardai on suspicion of murdering the boy, and they were later released without charge pending files to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Gardai have continued their enquiries into the boy’s death, after initially investigating a theory last March, that the boy sustained his injuries in a fall from a bunk bed.
On August 12, gardai officially stated for the first time that they suspected that the boy had been murdered.
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An inquest into the boy’s death, which opened at Dublin Coroner’s Court last June, heard that he died from a traumatic head injury.
The hearing heard Mason had been transferred to the ICU at Dublin’s Temple Street Hospital from Cork University Hospital after initially being treated for his injuries at University Hospital Limerick.
At the inquest hearing, Gardai were granted an adjournment under Section 25.1 of the Coroner’s Act, in light of the garda investigation continuing.
‘HEARTBREAKING’
Gardai applied for the adjournment on the basis that the preparation of a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions was being considered.
Speaking on August 12, Catherine Slattery, a local Fianna Fáil councillor, said: “It’s absolutely heartbreaking, he was an innocent child with his whole life in front of him.
“My heart goes out to the boy’s family, and the neighbours in the area who are all just in shock, it’s awful; very, very sad.”