Body of woman removed from Ratoath house as man remains in custody

The body of a woman found dead in suspicious circumstances in a house in Ratoath last night has been removed from the property following a full technical examination.

Shortly after 6pm, on Saturday the 12th of November, 2022, Gardaí and emergency services attended at River Walk Court in Ratoath.

The body of a female adult (understood to be in her 30s) was discovered by Gardaí inside a duplex apartment.

A male aged in his 30s was arrested at the scene by investigating Gardaí and brought to Ashbourne Garda Station where he is currently detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984.

The services of the State Pathologist and Garda Technical Bureau were requested by investigating Gardaí and an incident room established at Ashbourne station with a Senior Investigating Officer appointed to the case.

Her body was removed from the scene and brought to the City Morgue at Whitehall where a post-mortem examination will be conducted by Dr Bolster, Office of the State Pathologist, later today.

Gardai are not believed to be looking for anyone else in connection with the incident but are appeaing for anyone who may have seen anything unusual or suspicious in the River Walk area of Ratoath last evening.

The victim has not yet been formally identified and gardaí will await the results of the post-mortem examination to determine the cause and time of death but the victim is believed to be a young Romanian woman who only recently moved to the area.

Cllr Nick Killian, cathaoirleach of Meath Co Council said the there was a sense of "shock and disbelief" in the community waking up to the events of last night.

Cllr Killian, whose constituency offices are behind the River Walk apartment where the young woman's body was found said he extended his "deepest sympathies" to the familty and friends of the deceased and praised gardai and emergency services for their actions.

Local Cllr Gillian Toole said that it was with "extreme sadness" that she learned of the young woman's death.

“I think we have to no more than the extreme sadness for this lady and her family but also neighbours here in River Wood and how they must be feeling.

“I have to say I didn’t know the couple and I just heard they only recently moved in in the last week or two."