Gardaí believe Paul “Babs” Connolly, who died after being assaulted during a stag party weekend in the Midlands, was involved in an altercation with two men moments before he was fatally injured and that one of them struck the victim.
Two men, one in his 30s and another aged 19 years, have been arrested for questioning about the assault. They remained in Garda custody on Sunday evening and were being detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act at Athlone Garda station, which allows for them to be questioned for up to 24 hours without charge.
The scene of the attack was sealed off and has undergone an examination by members of the Garda Technical Bureau. A postmortem examination has also been carried out on the dead man’s remains. The investigation into the fatal assault is being conducted by gardaí in Athlone. Mr Connolly’s boss, roofing contractor Ray Kelly, paid tribute to his colleague and friend, saying he was “a real good genuine fellah” who would always go the extra mile to “help anyone”.