Sergeant James Donoghue, who was stationed at
Tuckey Street, was shot twice in the back and
once in the head as he walked down White Street,
off Georges Quay, Cork. He had just left his home at Tower Street and was
making his way to his barracks about half a mile
away.
The Sergeant, a forty-six-year-old
married man with four children, was from Cahirciveen,
Co. Kerry. A farmer before he joined the R.I.C., he
had twenty-two years service and was due for promotion
to Head Constable.
Three IRA men had been
standing in a small gateway into Desmond's yard in White
Street. They had orders to attack another person
who had not shown and were just about to leave the
area when Sergeant Donoghue came upon them. Acting on
their own initiative and to the later fury of their
superiors they shot and killed the sergeant who was
well-liked in the area and was unarmed when attacked.
A week after his death the Cork IRA officially apologised
in writing to his family. Charlie O'Brien, his brother
Williarn, an officer in the IRA's G Company, First Battalion,
and their future brother-in-law Justin O'Connor, were
the three men involved in the attack.
Later that evening, three
houses in Cork city were attacked by armed men, believed
to have been in police uniforms. As a result of these
attacks three men were killed and three others wounded,
including Charlie O'Brien.
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