Fourth man still being questioned over brutal Ballincollig murder
A fourth man is being questioned by gardaí in relation to the brutal machete murder in Cork of a Polish-born father.
An Irish national in his 30s was arrested at an address on the northside of Cork this morning by detectives investigating the killing of Mikolaj Wilk, 35, near Ballincollig last June.
He was taken to Togher Garda Station where he was being detained last night under the Provisions of Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2007 which allows gardaí to detain suspects for up to seven days.
Three men were arrested, and released without charge, in January as part of the extensive garda probe on suspicion of facilitating and supporting the gang suspected of killing Mr Wilk.
The arrest came just days after gardaí, at an inquest, described the murder investigation as “live, ongoing and active”.
Mr Wilk, a gardener and handyman, was hacked to death by a machete-wielding gang of up to five men who broke into his home at Maglin, Ballincollig, on June 10 last.
His wife Elzbieta was injured during the attack as she tried to shield him. Their two young children and a female lodger were not physically injured.
He had been rushed to Cork University Hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later. A murder investigation was launched later that day.
The inquest into his death, opened last November and adjourned, was told he died from shock and haemorrhage due to multiple blows from sharp weapons in association with a traumatic brain injury.
The inquest was in for mention again last Thursday for an update where Sgt Fergus Twomey described the garda probe as “live, ongoing and active” before it was further adjourned.
The men questioned in January were in their 30s and were arrested at two separate locations in Ballincollig and a location in Togher. Two were Polish and one Latvian. They were all detained under the provisions of Section 50 and were all later released without charge with files due to go to the DPP.
The investigation, which has been painstaking and extensive, has followed several lines of enquiry and has an international dimension involving liaison with police forces in Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. Gardai have examined hundreds of hours of CCTV footage, trawled phone and email records, searched homes in Ballincollig, Ballinhassig, Grenagh and Blackpool, and business premises. Several cars and vans have also been seized.
Ms Wilk returned to Poland with her children.
