A vigil will be held, organised by the local cork Brazilian community, in memory of Brazilian woman, Bruna Fonseca, this Sunday at The Lough at 10am after being beaten and strangled in Cork flat

A vigil will be held, organised by the local cork Brazilian community, in memory of Bruna Fonseca this Sunday at The Lough at 10am.

A vigil will be held, organised by the local cork Brazilian community, in memory of Bruna Fonseca this Sunday at The Lough at 10am. People are encouraged to wear white & bring candles in remembrance.

A man has been arrested and gardaí are investigating the death of a woman whose body was found in an apartment in Cork yesterday morning.

A post-mortem was carried out on the woman’s body on Sunday afternoon by assistant state pathologist Dr Margot Bolster and while the results have not been released for operational reasons, the inquiry is now a murder investigation.

A man has also been arrested. The discovery was made at about 6.30am at a property in Liberty Street in Cork city.

The woman, aged in her 20s, was pronounced dead at the scene after gardaí and other emergency services were alerted to an incident and found her in an unresponsive condition.

She has been named as Bruna Fonseca, who was originally from Brazil, but had been living in the area for some years and worked in a local hospital.  Gardaí sealed off the area to allow for a full technical examination.

Ms Fonseca’s body was removed from the property early yesterday afternoon and brought to Cork University Hospital, for a post-mortem examination.

Anyone with information on what happened has been asked to contact gardaí.

A man in his 20s was arrested and is being held at the Bridewell Station in Cork.

In a statement, Mercy University Hospital Cork where Ms Fonseca worked for a contract cleaning company said management and staff were “saddened and shocked” at her death.

“Even though she was only working for a short time for the company at the hospital, she was considered a hard and diligent worker and an esteemed colleague,” it said.

The hospital extended deepest condolences to her friends and family. The family of Bruna Fonseca, who died in violent circumstances in Cork at the weekend, has launched a fundraising appeal to help with the repatriation of her body to her native Brazil.

The family has set up a GoFundMe account in the hope of raising the required finances to bring her body home to Formiga for burial.

Several members of her extended family are living in Cork and are liaising with the gardaí and the authorities on the timing of the release of her body, and they are also liaising with family members in Brazil on the funeral arrangements.

But in the meantime, they have opened a GoFundMe account this afternoon in a bid to help defray the costs associated with the repatriation and burial.

They issued a heartfelt plea this afternoon to anyone who knew Bruna, or who was affected by the circumstances surrounding her death, and who can afford to donate, to give what they can to help her family.

They are also receiving consular assistance.

A vigil is also set to take place at the Lough in Cork on Sunday, January 8 at 10am. Attendees are asked to wear white, bring candles and white roses.

Ms Fonseca, 28, a native of Formiga in Minas Gerais province, was a qualified librarian, who had come to Cork last September to start a new life.

She had been working as a contract cleaner at the Mercy University Hospital (MUH).

She went out with family and friends to ring in the new year in a Cork city pub on Saturday night but was found dead in a flat on Liberty St at around 6.30am on New Year’s Day after gardaí were called to the address.

A man was arrested at the scene and on Monday, Brazilian national, Miller Pacheco, 29, who has an address on Liberty St, and who was known to Ms Fonseca, was brought before a special sitting of Cork District Court where he was charged with the murder of Ms Fonseca, at Liberty Street, Cork on January 1, 2023, contrary to common law.

He is due to appear before the court again by video link on January 9.

Bruna Fonseca (28) fought for her life before she was beaten and strangled in Cork flat. RIP we keep Bruna’s family, friends and colleagues in our thoughts.