The Irish Mirror reports the man, 44, and his 27-year-old partner, named as Angie and Cornelius Belling, were confirmed dead at the scene in Kildysart, Co Clare. The report says a bloodied woman ran out of a home before she collapsed with a stab wound to her chest and neck.
Police then discovered a screaming child in a nearby house where the body of a man was also found. He too had sustained serious injuries.
Police said it is likely that the couple stabbed each other in a domestic disagreement. The South Africans have only moved to the rural town two months ago.
Two young children were being cared for last night by neighbours following their deaths.
Update:
The Irish Independent reported that Angie, as she is known to to her friends, travelled to Dublin airport two weeks before with her daughters Pamela (4) and Cornie (2) to fly home to South Africa.
Her husband reported the children missing and she was prevented from leaving the country with them. She was living in the country illegally and presented herself to authorities in the hope of being deported.
The young mother, who was living in the country illegally, had earlier presented herself to authorities in the hopes of being deported.
“She did this without telling him and she got as far as Dublin airport but Cornelius said the kids had been taken and she was turned back at the airport,” a friend told the Irish Independent News.
Friends also reported that her husband has kept the children from her for days but Mr Billing returned to the couple’s flat with the children just one day before the tragedy unfolded.
The bodies of Angie and Cornelius Billing are being removed from scene in #Kildysart @IrishMirror pic.twitter.com/SIzwrmI2My
— Cathal McMahon (@Cathal_Mirror) December 18, 2014
Christmas horror in Clare: Couple knifed each other to death in front of their children pic.twitter.com/Rr23xZswJe
— Irish Daily Mirror (@IrishMirror) December 18, 2014
