TRAGEDY FOR TWO WEXFORD FAMILIES
Shock as Tina charged with fiancé’ s murder in Australia
THEY SHOULD have been looking forward to a wedding, but instead two Wexford families have been plunged into tragedy following the death of Enniscorthy man David Walsh whose fiancée Tina Cahill has been charged with his murder in Sydney.
Tina Cahill’s father, Dan, from New Ross, said the first he and his wife Rita heard about their daughter being charged with murder was on the radio on Saturday morning. ‘We’re just trying to cope,’ Dan told this newspaper.
David Walsh, 29, was found with a stab wound to his neck in the early hours of Friday at the couple’s home. Paying tribute, Jackser Owens, chairman of Enniscorthy United, described him as a nice chap and a hard worker who came from a respectable family.
A New Ross woman accused of stabbing her fiance - Enniscorthy father-of-three David (Motcha) Walsh - to death at their home is due to attend court tomorrow ( Wednesday) in Sydney, Australia, charged with his murder.
Tina Cahill, from Pondsfield, New Ross, was arrested at the scene by police and later charged with his murder.
David Walsh, 29, from Enniscorthy, was found with a stab wound to his neck in the early hours of Friday morning at the couple’s home in Sydney’s Padstow district, which they shared with two of Ms Cahill’s friends from New Ross.
It is understood that a row broke out after a 36-year-old man returned to the house from the pub having met Ms Cahill’s and her female housemates there earlier in the day.
An altercation took place and Mr Walsh was allegedly stabbed.
Neighbours reported ‘screaming and wailing’ around midnight before police and ambulance crews arrived at the Watson Road address at about 12.15 a.m. on Saturday morning (1.15 p.m. Friday Irish time) to find Mr Walsh injured on the footpath outside his home.
He was bleeding profusely from the neck in the driveway of the house. Paramedicas treated him at the scene, but he tragically died.
Ms Cahill was detained and questioned. She was refused bail and opted not to appear via video link at Parramatta local court on Sunday. Her lawyer said she was too distressed to attend.
Ms Cahill will appear before Burwood local court on Wednesday.
The man was also arrested at the scene but he was later released without charge. He had suffered minor lacerations to the face but didn’t require any medical treatment.
Detectives from the Bankstown area of the city are being assisted by officers from the State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad on the case.
Bankstown Police crime manager Glen Fitzgerald said that two other women were also at the home when a second man, who was known to the women, arrived at the house after a night out and an argument broke out.
Superintendent Fitzgerald said: ‘All five people are known to each other, albeit one of those males only tonight.’
Detective Inspector Fitzgerald said the victim had been in the house, possibly asleep, when the row erupted when the three women and the man present.
‘Four of them seem to live at this address. One of the males was at an establishment with them earlier in the day,’ he said.
‘Police from Bankstown Local Area Command established a crime scene and arrested a 25-year-old woman, who is known to the dead man. A 36-year-old Revesby man was also arrested and both were taken to Bankstown Police Station.’ Supt Fitzgerald said Ms Cahill was charged with murder. ‘She has been refused bail and will appear in Parramatta Local Court. New South Wales Police Force is working with the Irish Consulate in Sydney.’
Mr Walsh, who worked in construction, was a a father-of-three little girls, who emigrated to Australia where he met Ms Cahill, who is from a well respected New Ross family and who worked in traffic management in Sydney.
Mr Walsh’s three daughters are all under the age of 11 and are from another relationship. They live in Ireland. The couple only got engaged on New Year’s Eve and pictures on Facebook shows them celebrating the moment.
Mr Cahill, who has four brothers and one sister, is pictured saying: ‘Here’s to the new chapter.’