GARDAI have arrested two people on suspicion of murdering four year old Limerick boy Mason TJ O’Connell-Conway, last March.
Little Mason was found by gardai with critical head injuries at a house in Rathbane, Limerick, on March 13th.
The boy was pronounced dead at Children’s Hospital Ireland at Temple Street, Dublin on March 16th.
A garda source confirmed that a man in his 30s and a woman in her 20s had been arrested today on suspicion of murdering Mason.
The two suspects are being questioned by gardai at separate garda stations in Limerick city.
Both are being held by gardai under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984.
Gardai have always maintained they have been investigating all circumstances surrounding Mason’s death, and that they were keeping an open mind as to the what led to the boy’s death.
Breaking down while delivering a eulogy at his son’s funeral, the deceased’s father, John Paul O’Connell told mourners: “Our little superhero fought until his last breath and gained his (angel) wings just before a quarter past four last Tuesday.”
Mr O’Connell also thanked staff at University Hospital Limerick, as well as medics at Cork University Hospital, and Childrens Hospital Ireland, Temple Street, “who worked around the clock and who tried their hardest to save our little man”.
Mr O’Connell wept at St Joseph’s Church, Castleconnell, Co Limerick, while also thanking the family’s neighbours and friends.
“Our little man, Mason, had a family that extended for miles, on both my side and his mam’s side; you wouldn’t have to spend two minutes with Mason and he would leave a memory that would last a lifetime,” Mr O’Connell said.
“He was a loving, caring, energetic little man, who loved everyone, and he will continue to love and look over us all through this hard time.”
Looking down on his son’s small white coffin in the church, Mr O’Connell said: “Mason, my little right hand man, my boy, the moment I laid eyes on you, you stole my heart like you did with so many others. My life will never be the same again.”
Mr O’Connell stood throughout the funeral mass, with his hands rested on the coffin, and tenderly kissed the coffin as his former partner and Mason’s mother, Elizabeth, sat on a chair next to the coffin with her head rested on it.
Mason’s parents and extended family members wore white t-shirts emblazoned with their son’s photograph, which read “Mason Forever 4”.
Mason’s favourite football and scarf along with a photograph of him, were placed on his coffin which was brought from his grandmother’s house in Castleconnell to the church, in a white carriage, drawn by two white horses.
Speaking at the mass, Fr Tom Whelan, assisted by Fr Willie Teehan, told Mason’s family their son had captured “all hearts” in the tight knit rural community.
Fr Whelan said Mason would be remembered in the local community for his love of “football, fishing and walks around the village”.
The village stopped in silence as up to 100 people gathered wearing face masks and walking behind the cortège to the church and later on to the local cemetery.
More than €11,400 was raised to assist the family ahead of the funeral through the goFundMe website. The fund is no longer receiving donations.
