Murdered homeless man told of hardship living on the streets
A HOMELESS man in his fifties who was savagely beaten to death was a talented chef, who had bravely battled alcohol addiction without losing his sense of humour or his spirit.
Timothy (Timmy) Hourihane, from west Cork, was found unconscious in a Cork city ‘tented village’ early yesterday morning by members of Cork Fire Brigade.
Other homeless people had raised the alarm after a tent went on fire at Mardyke Walk near University College Cork at 12.45am.
The tent owned by Mr Hourihane was pitched across the road from the Westscene ern Road entrance to the college. Members of the fire brigade found him a short distance away.
He had been assaulted and had sustained extremely serious injuries to his head and body. He was rushed by ambulance to Cork University Hospital where he died.
Former lord mayor of Cork, Cllr Mick Finn called for urgent assistance for the homeless in the wake of the ‘terrible and shocking news’.
He said: ‘I am calling for an urgent State response to the living situation of the homeless.
‘It is frightening that we have another murder in the our area. It really underpins calls for more gardaí on the beat in Cork.’
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster carried out a preliminary examination of the at Mardyke Walk. A postmortem was carried out at CUH.
Gardaí have started interviews with other individuals – from Ireland, England and Eastern Europe – living in the area where tents have sprung up in recent months.
There is no known motive for the assault. The area has no CCTV.
Supt Michael Comyns, of Anglesea Street in Cork, held a media briefing at the site of the murder.
He said that witnesses raised the alarm, reporting that a tent was on fire and a man unconscious.
‘Gardaí arrived at the scene and a man was taken by ambulance to the CUH where a short time afterwards he was pronounced dead.
‘As a result of our inquiries from there, we set up an incident room. The man has injuries consistent with an assault. He does not have injuries consistent with being in a fire,’ he said.
Supt Comyns appealed to witnesses to come forward and said gardaí are hoping to receive dashcam footage from passing taxi drivers and motorists.
‘Dashcam footage or any footage at all from a persons phone,’ he said. ‘In this area there are a lot of guest houses as well, and there may have been people... who would have checked out probably this morning, and we would ask them to contact us.’
In an interview with the Irish Times on Christmas Day 2017, Mr Hourihane said it was his best festive season in many a year.
He was among the diners at Penny Dinners, which provides meals to homeless people in Cork city.
He said he was grateful for the special meal provided by the River Lee Hotel in Cork city.
Mr Hourihane spoke movingly of his addiction to alcohol. He said he had battled through sobriety only to see his life derailed by relapses.
‘I stayed off alcohol for a year and a quarter and I was proud of that,’ he said. ‘At least I am trying. I was on the Simon floor last evening but we were out at seven this morning. This is my happiest day for a long time. Because I went to the church.’
Mr Hourihane spoke of the difficulties of his situation: ‘When you sleep on the streets you are lucky to wake up with your trainers still on. It has happened to me where I have woken up with one trainer missing. You have to laugh because you think, “Why didn’t they take the two?”’
Meanwhile, Christina Chalmers of Helping Cork’s Homeless wrote a message stating that she was ‘lost for words’.
Ms Chalmers, a personal friend of Mr Hourihane’s, wrote: ‘I’m in total shock. I’m devastated. We were very close and he was very close to my family and children.’
Gardaí asked anyone with information to contact Anglesea Garda station on 021-4522000, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.
‘I’m devastated. We were very close’