Post mortem examinations of the bodies of a South African couple found dead in Kildysart yesterday are taking place at University Hospital Limerick this evening.
The individuals, who died in the Shannon Estuary village on Wednesday night, have been named locally as Angelique (27) and Cornelius Billing (44).
Mrs Billing was seen collapsing in the street at approximately 6.50pm on Wednesday by a local garda, who was attending the scene of a fire. She is understood to have sustained injuries to her upper body.
Fire crew who were dealing with a fire at the hardware store across the street from where Mrs Billing collapsed came to her aid and provided medical assistance, but her injuries proved fatal.
While the fire crew were attending to Mrs Billing, the local garda went into the apartment that she shared with her husband and two children, aged two and three and found Mr Billing with serious neck injuries.
The couple had been renting the apartment, which is above a shop next door to Kildysart Post Office, since March of this year.
They are believed to have only come to Ireland early this year and were not very well known in the community. It is understood that Mr Billing travelled for work, and had only returned from working abroad to their Kildysart home this month.
The couple’s young children, a boy and a girl, were in the apartment when the tragic incident took place but were uninjured and did not require medical attention. They are currently in foster care under the supervision of the HSE.
Gardaí today began house-to-house enquiries and are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed or heard anything on Wednesday night to contact Kilrush Garda Station on 065 9080550, where an incident room has been set up.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.