A woman who was upset by her parents' separation hanged herself on the morning of her 22nd birthday, Dublin City Coroner's Court has been told. The woman, a security guard, also was upset by the violent death of a work colleague a short time earlier.
The woman was found hanging by a bed sheet from the banisters in the house in Phibsboro where she had a flat on August 24th last year. Friends told the inquest she had taken overdoses of tablets, usually connected with drink, a number of times before her death.
Her boyfriend said he met the woman in July 1996. That November and again in May 1997 she took overdoses of over-the-counter tablets. On the night before her death she was in good form. They visited friends for drinks and before they left the flat she was given the "bumps" to celebrate her birthday.
However, a girlfriend said the dead woman spoke to her that night of her family problems and how she was upset at getting separate birthday cards from her mother and father. Another girl friend, who found her hanging in the house where she had a flat, said she had told her she had a problem with anorexia nervosa in the past but was over it.
She also knew the woman was upset about the death of a work colleague in a stabbing incident in June 1997.
Sgt Andrew Hawkshaw of Mount joy Garda station said he found a note in the woman's bedroom as well as a number of letters. A post-mortem examination carried out by a pathologist, Dr James Kirrane, showed that death was due to hanging. The Dublin City Coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, said the letters and note found referred to death. He recorded a verdict of suicide.
It is the policy of The Irish Times in reporting certain inquests to protect the identities of deceased persons and/or their families