Wexford woman found dead under her car in ‘freak accident’ named locally

That was the conclusion of a garda source in relation to the discovery of a woman’s body trapped beneath her car in a quiet Wexford housing estate yesterday (Tuesday).

The woman, now named locally as 54 year-old Margaret O'Connor with an address at Ballyhogue, was discovered trapped underneath her car between two driveways at Mill Park in Castlebridge.

The alarm was raised shortly after 11.30 a.m. on Tuesday morning when neighbours made the grim discovery having noticed the car unusually parked on a slant between two driveways.

Sadly, Ms O’Connor was declared dead at the scene and it is understood that she may have lay undiscovered for a couple of hours as locals went about their business unawares.

The housing estate was quickly sealed off and Gardaí erected screens around the driveway as shocked locals looked on.

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They quickly confirmed that the body of a female had been recovered and stated that they were treating the matter as “a tragic accident”.

Ms O’Connor’s body remained at the scene for several hours while a full technical examination was carried out. Her remains were subsequently taken to University Hospital Waterford where a full post mortem examination was due to take place.

The incident sparked widespread shock in the tight-knit community of Castlebridge as locals questioned how exactly this could happen.

Today's News in 90 seconds - 16th April 2024

As the keys were found in the ignition of the car at the time of the tragic discovery, gardaí are operating on the assumption that the car rolled between two driveways and somehow tragically pinned or trapped the woman beneath.

Ms O’Connor was a former resident of the Mill Park estate and gardaí believe that she was making a social call, dropping eggs to a friend, when tragedy struck.

"It really is a strange one,” a garda source said. “It's hard to know just how the car came to roll between the two driveways.”

A full investigation into the matter is ongoing and gardaí are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed the incident, between 11.30 a.m. and 12 noon on Tuesday morning, to contact them.

“Any road users or pedestrians who were in the Mill Park area of Castlebridge this morning between 11:30am and 12noon and who may have camera footage (including dash cam) are asked to make this available to investigating Gardaí,” a spokesperson said.

“Anyone with information can contact Wexford Garda Station on 053 9165200, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.”

In his role as an Operations Resource Manager with the National Ambulance Service, Independent councillor Ger Carthy was among the emergency services who attended the scene.

The incident provoked a major response with the fire service, National Ambulance Service and up to eight garda patrol cars in attendance.

"I attended the scene as part of a large multi-agency response,” he said when contacted. “It was a very sad scene. What exactly transpired here will emerge in the fullness of time, but it seems to have been a freak accident.

"It’s a tragedy of unspeakable proportions,” he said. “The thoughts of all the emergency services are with this woman and her family.”

Local councillor George Lawlor said that the tight-knit community of Castlebridge was stunned by the grim discovery.

"This was an extremely shocking and tragic incident in the small community of Castlebridge,” he said. “It appears that this was some kind of freak accident which has claimed the life of a woman. It’s something that will reverberate through the local community in the days to come.

"My thoughts and prayers are with this lady’s family and friends in the difficult days ahead.”