An inquest into the death of a 59-year-old woman who was attacked close to her home in Cork city last November has heard that she died from stab wounds to the thorax.

BY OLIVIA KELLEHER

Stella Gallagher was fatally injured in an incident in Sherewsbury Downs in Ballinlough in Cork on November 17th, 2025. She was pronounced dead at Cork University Hospital.

Her husband Brian was also seriously injured in the incident. The 63-year-old was transferred to Cork University Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery.

Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster told Cork Coroner’s Court that the cause of death in the case was haemorrhage and shock due to stab wounds to the thorax.

Sgt Fergus Twomey applied for and was granted an adjournment of the case. He told Coroner Philip Comyn that a person has been before the courts in connection with the death. The case was adjourned to allow criminal proceedings to take place.

The late Stella Gallagher was a native of Ballinspittle in Co Cork. She was a retired chemical engineer who worked for many years at Eli Lilly in Kinsale, Co Cork.

She was laid to rest on November 25th, 2025 at St Michael’s Cemetery in Blackrock in Cork following a mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Ballinlough. Mourners were told that Stella had an 'innate generosity' and brightened the lives of others.

Her brother in law Alan Gallagher also said that she derived great pleasure from her  involvement with the Togher Community Garden and the Cork Health Education Project Choir, with whom she sang.

Meanwhile, David Gallagher, with an address at Shrewsbury Downs in Ballinlough in Cork has been charged with the murder of his mother, and with assault causing harm to his father, close to the family home in Ballinlough on November 17th last. The 25 year old first appeared in court charged with the offence  on November 20th, 2025.