TRIBUTES HAVE been paid to the student who died after being stabbed on Bandon Road in Cork this week.
The victim was named locally as 20-year-old Cameron Blair, from outside Clonakilty.
A former student at Bandon Grammar School, Cameron was a student at Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) at the time of his death.
Cameron is believed to have been attending a party in a house on Bandon Road when an argument erupted.
It is thought to have stemmed from an incident that saw several unidentified people try to gate-crash the party.
The second-year student from Ballinascarty in west Cork was fatally injured when an unknown assailant attacked him with a knife, slashing him in the neck.
The attack is thought to have occurred at around 9:10pm approximately on the evening of question.
Cameron reportedly staggered out of the house and into the street where he eventually collapsed due to his injuries.
Emergency services him at the scene before he taken by ambulance to Cork University Hospital. It was there that he was sadly pronounced dead.
Tributes and messages paying their respects to Cameron have flooded in, in the wake of his death.
Dr Barry O’Connor, President Cork Institute of Technology, said: “The entire CIT community is in shock at the untimely death of one of our students and in such dreadful circumstances.
“Our heartfelt sympathies go out to the family and friends of the deceased who was a valued member of our CIT community.
“While our second semester lectures have not yet commenced, counselling and other necessary supports will be put in place by CIT for his classmates and his fellow students here in the Institute.
“We are also working in close cooperation with our CIT Students’ Union to help students cope with this terrible tragedy.
“I am confident that our UCC (University College Cork) colleagues will also be putting supports in place for their students who are also traumatised by this fatality.”
An accomplished athlete and sportsman, Bandon Rugby Club president Dan Murphy was among those to pay tribute to his former teammate Cameron, explaining how he left an “indelible mark” on those he met.
“Such a tragedy will be felt far and wide but will be felt really deeply within our club where Cameron was a very popular member and current player,” he said.
“Cameron’s boyish smile and joy of life left a real indelible mark on anyone he met or any team he played on.
“He played as he spoke, full of confidence and was a delight to see running at full tilt with a rugby ball.
“Our thoughts, prayer and deepest sympathies are with the Blair and Donnelly families and Cameron’s close friends at this extremely difficult time.”
A full technical and forensic examination is getting underway at the scene in #Cork of the country’s latest violent death: a student, in his late teens or early 20s, fatally stabbed. Gardaí are appealing for people with information to contact them. @rtenews pic.twitter.com/B0Xs2nPwrS
— Paschal Sheehy (@PaschalSheehy) January 17, 2020
Eugene O’Brien, the principal of Hamilton High School in Bandon where Cameron completed his Leaving Certificate, described him as “ a fantastic student”.
“He was very bright, very athletic, who had a bright future in front of him. The school community is deeply upset and our thoughts are with his family at this time."
Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, Dr Paul Colton, who presided at Cameron’s confirmation in 2013 also expressed his sympathies in an emotive statement.
“Having had student children myself, I know well that a calamity such as this on a night out is every parent’s worst nightmare,” he said.
“My heart goes out to the Blair family, especially Cameron’s parents Noel and Cathy, and his brother Alan; as well as to Cameron’s wide circle of friends and peers, and indeed everyone
who has been traumatised by what happened on the Bandon Road last night.
“I know everyone in Cork and further afield is terribly shocked by Cameron’s death.
“On behalf of everyone living in this part of Cork, and on behalf of us all in the Church of Ireland community in Cork, Cloyne and Ross I send them our sincerest condolences.”
Bandon Rugby Club has cancelled all activities at the club this weekend.
Gardaí are still appealing for information from anyone who was in the Bandon Road area between 8pm and 10pm that night to come forward.
Cameron's killing is the sixth violent death in Cork since July.
