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A young man murdered in his room by his father and younger brother during a bitter dispute over the family inheritance was shot several times.
While full ballistic evidence is still awaited, it is understood that several shots were fired at the Assolas farm outside Kanturk, where Mark was later found dead.
Gardaí fears that the triple tragedy in North Cork last Monday that claimed the lives of Mark O’Sullivan (25), his father Tadhg O’Sullivan (59) and his younger brother, Diarmuid O’Sullivan (23) was a murder-double suicide. .
It is also feared that Tadhg and Diarmuid deliberately planned to confront Mark where he was unable to flee, entering his room before 6.40am.
A personal note later recovered from Diarmuid’s body described in detail his anguish over the inheritance dispute and the toll it had taken on him and his family.
The long note is believed to have been written several hours before the triple shooting, indicating that the attack was entirely premeditated.
The triple shooting followed escalating tensions within the family after details emerged two weeks ago of a proposed will favoring Mark with an agricultural heritage.
Diarmuid was said to be deeply upset by the proposed terms of the will.
Apparently, Tadhg was very upset about the treatment of his youngest son and for not having reached a compromise on the inheritance.
The last of the three post-mortem exams was completed yesterday at Cork University Hospital (CUH) by Assistant State Pathologist Dr. Margaret Bolster.
Gardaí said they are withholding the results of the post-mortem examinations for operational reasons.
While detectives treat the matter as a criminal investigation, they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.
Both Tadhg and Diarmuid died from single gunshot wounds inflicted at close range.
Meanwhile, sources indicated that Mark suffered multiple gunshot wounds.
Gardaí recovered a total of three weapons legally on the property and surrounding fields last Monday: a shotgun and two rifles.
The shotgun is not believed to have been fired.
The two rifles were recovered along with the bodies of Tadhg and Diarmuid in a field 600 meters from the hamlet known as ‘El Fuerte’
due to its proximity to an ancient fairy ring.
All three weapons have now been sent to Dublin for analysis by ballistics experts.
Gardaí hopes that the ballistic analysis will help them reconstruct the precise sequence of the tragic events of last Monday morning.
Officials from the Garda Technical Office have conducted a full forensic analysis of the farm and the surrounding scene.
Mark had been off the property in Assolas, between Kanturk and Castlemagner, for several days while taking his mother, Ann (60), to a doctor’s appointment in Dublin.
The 60-year-old nurse, a respected nurse based in nearby Mallow, has been battling serious health problems as of late.
Now she is being comforted by family and friends. The clergy of Kanturk and Castlemagner have visited the heartbroken mother.
Legal documentation found at the farm, as well as a detailed personal note recovered along with Diarmuid’s body, added further weight to Garda’s theory that the tragedy was related to a bitter dispute over the inheritance of a local 115-acre property.
The note described in detail Diarmuid’s upset over the inheritance dispute and the personal cost it had charged him.
It has more than a dozen pages and, according to sources, it was brought to the attention of his mother.
The three bodies are expected to be returned to the grieving family shortly.
The funeral arrangements have yet to be finalized, although they are expected to be strictly private at the request of the family.
Online editors
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