'My heart is broken'
A fundraising appeal to cover funeral costs for murdered infant Santina Cawley has surpassed its original goal in just one day.
Created on Tuesday, the GoFundMe appeal was initially set up to raise €8,000 to help Santina’s family with the funeral costs, but had already reached more than €12,000 by Wednesday afternoon.
A number of soft toys and flowers have been placed by well wishers at Elderwood Park where Santina was found with fatal injuries.
Amongst these was a note from Santina's mother Bridget which read: “To my loving beautiful daughter Santina, my heart is broken for what happened to you, from your mother Bridget and your brothers and sisters.”
It comes after a woman in her 30s, who was arrested in connection with the murder of the two year old, was released from custody without charge on Tuesday.
The woman was arrested by gardaí on Monday 8 July, several days after the infant was found with serious injuries at an apartment in Elderwood Park, off the Boreenmanna Road.
She was detained at Gurranabraher Garda Station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984.
Emergency services were called to the apartment at approximately 5.20am on the morning of Friday 5 July. Santina was rushed to CUH where she died later that day.
A post mortem was carried out on Monday morning by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster. The results will not be released for operational reasons, gardaí have said.
Following the post mortem which indicated that the infant was assaulted, gardaí upgraded their probe to a murder investigation which is still ongoing. Gardaí have sealed off two apartments in the estate for forensic investigation.
Gardaí are appealing to any person who was in the Elderwood Apartment complex between 4pm on Thursday 4 July and 6am Friday 5 July, who has not already spoken to gardaí to come forward.
Anyone with information can contact gardaí at Anglesea Street Station on 021-4522000 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800-666111.
The Santina Cawley GoFundMe appeal for funeral costs was set up by Cork’s RedFM and 'The Neil Prendeville Show'.