A man found dead in a Dublin doorway was pickpocketed shortly before he died, an inquest heard.
A ricksaw driver found Jed Eddison (30), of Ballinure, Grangecon, Co Wicklow, at the entrance to a Starbucks on Westmoreland Street at 7.30am on Sunday October 11th, 2015.
Mr Eddison had been out socialising with friends over the weekend. His mother Karen had dropped him off two days earlier and last spoke to him at 9.45pm on the night before his death.
“He was on a street because I could hear noise. He sounded coherent and normal,” she said.
Mrs Eddison said her son took prescription drugs for anxiety and she worried about him combining these with alcohol.
Dublin Coroner’s Court heard how Mr Eddison suffered a beating before he attended a party in Clondalkin on the Friday night before his death.
Aoibhinn Brady said she noticed scratches to his face when he arrived at her party. “I got the impression it was someone he knew,” she said. “He left the next day with the two friends he had arrived with, I think.”
On the Saturday, Mr Eddison rang a childhood friend looking for a place to stay. “I told him I’d be back later and he could call then. He sounded tired, like he needed to sleep,” Darragh Moore said.
Last movements
Gardaí examined CCTV footage in an attempt to trace Mr Eddison’s last movements. It showed him with two males on Westmoreland Street at 2am.
“He is clearly intoxicated and the two males rifle through his pockets,” Garda Kenny told the court. “He is leaning against the railings, they are holding him up and then they escort him, one either side and place him in the doorway of Starbucks.”
Gardaí made contact with the man’s uncle Don Murray, who said he had trouble identifying Mr Eddison because of the marks to his face. “I think whoever gave him the beating upset him. He made out he was a strong, tough guy but really he was like jelly,” Mr Murray said.
The cause of death was multiple drug toxicities including alcohol, benzodiazepines, heroin and cocaine, the inquest heard.
The jury returned a verdict of death by misadventure.
Gardaí arrested one of the men seen rifling through Mr Eddison’s pockets and a file was prepared for the DPP but no prosecution was directed.