A third man has been taken into custody by gardaí investigating the fatal stabbing of 25 year-old Karl Haugh from Kilkee.
Mr Haugh, a father of one, sustained fatal stab wounds during an altercation at Marion Estate at approximately 1.15am on Sunday morning. He was removed to University Hospital Limerick where he was pronounced dead. Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis has since carried out a post-mortem examination.
The man, in is 20s, was arrested in the West Clare area and is detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act at Ennis Garda Station. This brings to three the number of people in custody as part of the investigation. Two others, also in their 20’s, are detained at Kilrush Garda Station.
Members of the Clare Divisional Crime Scene Investigation Unit carried out a technical examination of the scene while gardaí have also appointed a Garda Liaison Officer to the Mr Haugh’s family.
It has also emerged that Karl Haugh had a miraculous escape in a car crash in Carrigaholt in 2003 in which his sister, Stacey (16) and her friends, Lorna Mahoney (13), both from Kilkee, were killed.He was 11 years of age at the time and sustained serious injuries in the crash.
The driver of the vehicle, 15 year-old David Naughton had been staying in a residential care home in Galway and had driven to Kilkee with three friends.He absconded while on bail but was extradited back to Ireland and later sentenced to three years in prison. That sentence was subsequently doubled by the Court of Criminal Appeal.
Kilrush gardaí have appealed to anyone who was in the area at the time of the incident or who might have any information that might help with the investigation, to contact them in Kilrush on 065-9080550; the Garda Confidential Telephone Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.
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.