MAN KILLED IN TRUCK STOP ROW MAN WAS HIT WITH IRON BAR AFTER ROW BROKE OUT AMONG POLISH NATIONALS AT FERMOY STOPOVER
GARDAI in North Cork have arrested two men for questioning following the death of a third man after an assault at a truck stop attached to a filling station in Fermoy late on Tuesday night.
The deceased, a Polish man in his 30s, suffered head injuries when he was struck with an iron bar during a dispute between himself and another Polish man and two Polish truck drivers.
The incident happened at the truck parking area attached to the rear of the Amber filling station on the Dublin Road in Fermoy at around 10.30pm last night.
It’s understood that the deceased, a married father of two who was living in Fermoy, and a Polish friend also living in Fermoy, had been drinking in the town prior to going to the filling station.
They got into a row with two Polish truck drivers working for a Macroom haulage company who had pulled up to rest. The row escalated into a dispute in which an iron bar was produced.
The deceased suffered serious head injuries in the assault and although the emergency services arrived and treated the man he failed to regain consciousness and died at the scene.
The second Polish man from Fermoy, who is also in his 30s, was taken to Cork University Hospital suffering from non life-threatening injuries, mainly of a defensive nature, to his arms and legs.
Gardai spoke initially to the two truck drivers as witnesses but they were arrested at 4am for an offence of assault causing harm under Section 3 of the Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.
The men were then arrested under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act which allows gardai detain suspects for up to 24 hours, and were taken to Fermoy and Mallow Garda Stations for questioning.
Meanwhile, gardai cordoned off the scene and requested the services of the State Pathologist’s Office as the body of the deceased remained at the rear of the filling station overnight.
Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Margaret Bolster arrived at the scene later in the morning where she carried out a preliminary examination of the body before it was removed to CUH for an autopsy.
It’s understood that gardai recovered an iron bar at the scene and that it will be examined later by garda technical experts for any forensic evidence that may assist in the investigation.
Gardai have also begun examining CCTV footage from the Amber filling station and have spoken to a number of truck drivers who were parked at the rear of the filling station at the time of the row.
Gardai believe the two Polish men living in Fermoy and the two Polish men working for the Macroom haulage company – who are in their early 40s and late 20s – did not know each other prior to the row.