- The Observer,
- Sunday November 23, 2003
Sinead O'Neill, a student from Templeogue in Dublin, was attacked as she was returning to her camp site after a night out.
She was found alive and half-submerged in the River Isar in the Thalkirchen district of Munich on 20 August, 1991. She had suffered up to 10 stab wounds to her chest, back and legs.
She died shortly afterwards in hospital.
O'Neill, who was studying marketing at Portobello Business School in Dublin, had been working in an Irish bar in the Bavarian city at the time of her death.
The 38-year-old man, who has not been named, is believed to have been arrested after DNA samples were taken after a fight.
The sample was run through a computer program, which matched it with a sample taken from O'Neill's clothing. Armed investigators stormed his apartment last week and arrested him.
The breakthrough came after a new law was passed in Germany two years ago which ordered the compulsory DNA testing of all people charged with serious crimes of violence.
Police believe O'Neill was followed and attacked after she got off a train to walk back to her camp site.
The man has reportedly confessed to the murder, and also to raping another woman.
O'Neill had been working in the Chinese Tower beer garden at the time of her death and had been living in a tent in the busy Thalkirchen camp site along with hundreds of other young Irish people.
The accused man is being held in police custody and is due to appear in court at a later date.
