By Tony O’Riley-
A man has been charged by Irish police after the body of a pensioner was brought to a post office in an alleged attempt to collect his pension.
It follows the arrest of two men in their 30s yesterday as part of the ongoing investigation into the incident that took place last week. The second man has been released from custody.
The man who was charged in connection with the incident is scheduled to appear before a special sitting at Kilkenny District Court this morning.
The men were detained under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.
One man was released on Wednesday night and gardai said a file will be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)
The pair arrived at the office at about 11.30am on Friday, asking to collect a pension payment for an older man, the Irish Times reported. He was refused, with staff informing him that the pensioner would have to be present in order for the money to be handed over.
The man returned soon after with two other men, one of whom was in his 60s and appeared to be being supported by the two others. The younger men asked to be given his pension payment.
No cash was handed over and the two men fled the scene, abandoning the man’s body after a woman wh
Gardaí said they were investigating “all the circumstances surrounding the unexplained death of an elderly male in the Carlow area”. A postmortem will be conducted.
A woman living beside the post office said her daughter saw the two men carrying the deceased man into the building. “She was leaving my house at the time and said the man looked unwell as his feet were dragging [along] the ground,” the woman, who did not want to be named, told the Irish Independent.
The mayor of Carlow, Fianna Fáil councillor Ken Murnane, said he was “absolutely shocked” to hear the news. “I heard there was a commotion in the post office,” he told the newspaper. “I go by there all the time and it’s a very busy post office – normally there’d be a queue out the door there.
“I was absolutely shocked to hear about what happened. I cannot believe anyone would do something like that. It beggars belief, I’m just shocked.”
The local Fine Gael councillor Fergal Byrne echoed Murnane’s words, saying: “The whole town is in shock.” He described the deceased as “a nice man by all accounts and someone who caused no offence to anyone”.
Byrne said: “The staff in the shop are very shook up from it. I’d like to offer my sympathies to the man’s family also. It’s a bizarre and upsetting situation.”
The men arrived at the post office at about 11.30am on Friday, asking to collect a pension payment for an older man, the Irish Times reported. He was refused, with staff informing him that the pensioner would have to be present in order for the money to be handed over.
The man returned soon after with two other men, one of whom was in his 60s and appeared to be being supported by the two others. The younger men asked to be given his pension payment.
No cash was handed over and the two men fled the scene, abandoning the man’s body after a woman who had become suspicious raised the alarm with a staff member. The deceased man is reported to have been well known to the men who had been carrying his body.
Gardaí said they were investigating “all the circumstances surrounding the unexplained death of an elderly male in the Carlow area”. A postmortem will be conducted.
Paedar’s funeral was held three days after Haughney and friend Gareth Coakley fled from a post office in the same town after turning up with Peadar’s body carried between them – claiming they did not realise he had died.
Haughney, who has has strongly protested his innocence, has now released a photograph of his uncle taken ‘a number of years ago’ and claims he wants the community to remember Peadar in the days after his passing.
Speaking from the home he shared with his uncle in Pollerton Road today, he told the Irish Mirror: ‘It is weird [being the house without Peadar], I won’t lie it is.’
Haughney revealed he is trying to get the house back in order following a whirlwind week that saw him accused of murder by members of his local community.
Declan Haughney, 40, was a pallbearer at uncle Peader Doyle’s funeral on Monday, three days after carrying his lifeless body into a post office in an attempt to claim his pension
A woman living beside the post office said her daughter saw the two men carrying the deceased man into the building. “She was leaving my house at the time and said the man looked unwell as his feet were dragging [along] the ground,” the woman, who did not want to be named, told the Irish Independent.
The mayor of Carlow, Fianna Fáil councillor Ken Murnane, said he was “absolutely shocked” to hear the news. “I heard there was a commotion in the post office,” he told the newspaper. “I go by there all the time and it’s a very busy post office – normally there’d be a queue out the door there.
“I was absolutely shocked to hear about what happened. I cannot believe anyone would do something like that. It beggars belief, I’m just shocked.”
The local Fine Gael councillor Fergal Byrne echoed Murnane’s words, saying: “The whole town is in shock.” He described the deceased as “a nice man by all accounts and someone who caused no offence to anyone”.
Byrne said: “The staff in the shop are very shook up from it. I’d like to offer my sympathies to the man’s family also. It’s a bizarre and upsetting situation.”
Gareth continued: “The papers are saying he was already dead but that’s bullsh*t.
“He was alive – 100 per cent.
“We’re hardly going to drag a dead man down the road, for f**k sake. He was still alive, and the autopsy will prove there was water in his system and what time he died.
“What’s going on social media is destroying me family name!
“And that’s the reason I went down to the Garda station and the garda shook our hands and said thanks for the information.”
Mr Doyle was eventually laid to rest at St Mary’s Cemetery after a Funeral Mass at the Church of the Holy Family in Askea at 11am on Monday morning.
The funeral was attended by a small gathering of family and friends of the man, who had an address in the Pollerton Road area of Carlow Town.
A vigil was held for Mr Doyle in Carlow Town on Sunday night and he was described locally as a “quiet, decent man”.