Charleville man faces murder trial in November

THE trial of a man charged with the murder of Tralee woman Nicola Collins is to take place in Cork next November.

Last August, Charleville native Cathal O’Sullivan (aged 44) of Popham’s Road, Farranree, Cork City was charged with the murder of Nicola Collins – a 38-year-old mother of three – at his flat in Farranree on March 27, 2017.

At the Central Criminal Court on Monday Justice Patrick McCarthy scheduled Mr O’Sullivan’s case to commence on November 6 in Cork.

A previous sitting of Cork District Court heard that Cathal O’Sullivan had replied ‘not guilty’ when the charge was put to him after caution by Detective Sergeant Kieran O’Sullivan of Mayfield Garda Station.

The body of Ms Collins, a native of St Brendans Park in Tralee, Co Kerry, but then resident at Clashduv Road in the Togher area of Cork, was found in an upstairs flat at Popham’s Road, Farranree on Cork’s Northside at around 3am on March 27 last.

Ms Collins was found with serious injuries when the emergency services were called to the flat, which was located over a convenience store.

The emergency services had been alerted by a man who was living in the flat and they attended to Ms Collins but they were unable to revive her and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Gardai upgraded their inquiry to a murder investigation after a post-mortem examination was carried on Ms Collins’s remains.