Gardaí have concluded their investigation into the death of a Kilkenny schoolgirl who died in "unexplained circumstances" last November. A file on the case has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The body of Ciara Gibbs (16) was found on November 26th last at her home in the townland of Killure near Goresbridge, Co Kilkenny.
Gardaí have not released the results of a postmortem carried out by State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy at Waterford Regional Hospital "for operational reasons", but it is understood that the teenager died from drowning in a bath in the house.
The discovery was made in an upstairs room of the house by her father, Gerard Gibbs, and 14-year-old brother Gearóid, who had both been away overnight and returned to the house on the Sunday morning.
The girl's mother, psychiatrist Dr Lynn Hutchinson, was found in "a collapsed state" close to her daughter's body and she was taken by ambulance to St Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny before subsequently being transferred to St Patrick's Hospital in Dublin.
Gardaí who believe "there were only two people present" in the house when Ciara Gibbs died - the girl and her mother - had initially been unable to interview Dr Hutchinson whom they described as "too ill to be interviewed".
They regard her account of the events leading to her daughter's death as "crucial" to the investigation. In early January gardaí said that, "guided by the medical authorities", they had spoken with Dr Hutchinson in hospital in Dublin.
Supt Aiden Roche of Thomastown, who led the investigation, declined to say if the interview had helped to shed light on the girl's death.
It is understood that Dr Hutchinson, who had previously worked with Carlow-Kilkenny Mental Health Services, has since been transferred to the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum, Co Dublin.
