The inquests into the deaths of five people whose bodies were pulled from the Boyne River in Drogheda over a four-month period last year were held yesterday.
County Coroner, Mr Ronan Maguire, said as he started the inquests that he would have to be satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt that someone had intended to take their own life before returning a verdict of suicide.
In four of the five cases he found that death was due to drowning, and that drink and/or drugs was a factor in two of them. The fifth death had been caused by a heart attack but it was not clear if this happened before or after the body went into the water.
The first inquest was into the death of 21-year-old Anthony Morrissey from Church View, Dromiskin, who was with three other young people when he went into the Boyne on the night of September 23rd last year. He had been drinking near the river with one of the group and just before 10 p.m. as the others had their back to him they heard a splash.
His body was recovered by the Boyne Fishermen's Rescue Service and the post-mortem revealed he had a urine/alcohol level approximately three times the drink-driving limit. There was no evidence he intended to commit suicide. No one saw him go into the water and Mr Maguire said the cause of death was drowning with an open verdict.
The inquest into 18-year-old Siobhan McKenna, Rathmullen Park, Drogheda, heard she was last seen after a disco on December 22nd last year and her body was recovered from the river on the 23rd.
The coroner and pathologist said it was clear a considerable period of time had passed between her last drink and the time she went into the water. Her distressed mother, Dolores, said she still believed her death was suspicious and that someone may have seen something. Again the cause of death was drowning and the coroner returned an open verdict saying there was no evidence Siobhan had been depressed or wanted to kill herself and she was not drunk.
However, in the inquest into the death of 20-year-old Niall MacGahey, College Rise, Drogheda, the court heard he had been at a disco and afterwards jumped into the river; there was no evidence he intended to kill himself and the coroner believed "his thinking was clouded by drink to a great degree and drink is what happened to him". He found he died from drowning due to misadventure.
The same verdict was returned on Derek Faherty (28), Mill Lane, Drogheda, who was seen running into the fast flowing Boyne on September 21st. His family said he would not have killed himself and the post-mortem revealed he had alcohol, amphetamines and ecstasy in his blood which the coroner felt "were major contributory factors" .
The final inquest was into 53-year-old Kenneth Foley, Mountain View, Dundalk, whose body was taken from the river on October 28th last year.
A post-mortem by the State pathologist, Dr John Harbison, found he had suffered a heart attack but as the circumstances leading up to his going into the water were not known, an open verdict was returned.