LOCAL PEOPLE ARE said to be in fear after the murder of a 78-year-old widow, Rose Hanrahan, in the Thomondgate area of Limerick.

Her body was discovered at her home on Friday.

Gardaí investigating the crime have seized CCTV footage, and house-to-house enquiries are also being carried out.

Rosie’s body was discovered by her sister Evelyn and her husband Jimmy when they called in the afternoon to return a handbag Rosie had left behind at their house.

Fianna Fáil TD Willie O’Dea was a friend of Rose Hanrahan’s, and said this morning that locals are in fear over her senseless death.

“I know her very well because her next door neighbour was the late Frank Slattery and his wife, also deceased, were very very good friends of mine, close friends and strong supporters,” he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.

O’Dea said that he often visited their house and got to know Rose and her late husband because of this, and would often drop into them for a cup of tea.

“I was particularly friendly with her late husband Michael,” he said. “He was a lovely gentle man.”

O’Dea said that Rose was “warm, she was friendly, good-natured, kind”. “She’s one of the few people I know you couldn’t say a bad word about her,” he said.

He said that there is a “sense of shock in the community and also a sense of fear”. There are a lot of older people living in the community and also a lot of single parents who are now worried, he said.

He said that it is in the interests of the wider community that “the people responsible for this utter barbarity” are “taken out of circulation as soon as possible”.

O’Dea said he is quite confident the gardaí will be successful in their investigation of the case, and that the full facts will come to light. “A lot of elderly people in the area have lost their sense of security, temporarily at least, and let’s hope that can be rectified as soon as possible.”

Superintendent Derek Smart, Henry Street Garda station, appealed for anyone with information that may help them to come forward in confidence.

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