Hundreds of mourners have attended a vigil in honour of 23-year-old Nicole Morey who lost her life in a dog attack in Limerick earlier this week.
A man who alerted emergency services about a fatal dog attack in which Nicole Morey died last Tuesday night, “did all he possibly could” to help her, sources close to the investigation into her death said Thursday.
The man had access to a security camera video feed of the scene of the attack, but was not at the scene, and was not physically able to assist Ms Morey who was attacked by her four dogs and killed.
Ms Morey, a native of Limerick City, had returned to a home she was renting in Fedamore, Co Limerick, around 11.30pm, last Tuesday night after celebrating her 23rd birthday.
When she turned the keys in the house, she was attacked by her four dogs.
A senior Garda source confirmed this Thursday evening that “all four” dogs were dogs that are included on a “restricted dog breeding list” and are all banned in the UK, however no such ban exists in the Republic of Ireland.
The Garda source also confirmed that “all four” dogs had been “destroyed” by the authorities.
The senior source confirmed that Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster conducted a post mortem on the body of Ms Morey today, Thursday.
The source said the autopsy results were “not been released for operational reasons”, although gardaí did not suspect any foul play in respect of Ms Morey’s death.
The Garda source reiterated that the male who was alerted to the attack via a CCTV video feed, had firstly contacted the emergency services after being alerted to the attack.
After alerting 999, which in train alerted Gardai and paramedics, the male then shared the CCTV footage with the victim’s family - in order to alert them to the incident.
“The individual that had access to the (footage), and that saw the incident occur, was not in the vicinity of the house, and was largely helpless, so they contacted the emergency services first,” the source said.
The man shared the footage with the woman’s family only after contacting the emergency services.
The footage was widely shared thereafter by unknown parties, sparking a Garda appeal on Wednesday which requesting the public “not to share these videos, out of respect for the deceased”.
Gardaí reiterated the appeal for people “not to share” the video footage.
A vigil, held on Thursday night, in memory of Ms Morey, at her mother Lisa Morey’s house at Bawnmore View, Crossagalla, Limerick, was attended by over 200 people.
Ms Morey’s sister Jolene Morey led a countdown at the vigil before hundreds of coloured balloons were released into the sky as a selection of Ms Morey’s favourite songs were played on a loudspeaker.
Members of Ms Morey’s family wept and comforted one another as neighbours and friends embraced them and each other under a canopy of multi-coloured balloons.
A senior Garda source confirmed that emergency services were the first persons to arrive at the scene of the fatal dog attack, followed by a member of the woman’s family.
Gardaí attached to the Regional Armed Support Unit (ASU) made the scene “safe” after they encountered four “aggressive dogs” there.
Gardaí shot one dog at this scene and restrained the other three which were taken into the custody of a dog warden, but were all later destroyed.
Despite valiant efforts by the emergency services to save Ms Morey, she was pronounced dead at the scene.
The senior Garda source said Gardai were aware of wild speculation being spread around the circumstances of the fatal dog attack.
This speculation has not been helpful to the investigation and there was no evidence to suggest any foul play was involved, they said.
The investigation into Ms Morey’s death was continuing, led by Roxboro Road Garda Station (061–214340).
Ms Morey’s death has sparked fresh debate about whether dogs such as the XL Bully, which was suspected of being involved in her awful death, should be banned in Ireland.
By David Raleigh
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