A woman walked in front of a train clutching her 18-monthold daughter to her chest, Dublin City Coroner's Court was told yesterday. The mother and baby died instantly in the incident on the Dublin-Drogheda rail track between Kilcreagh Bridge and Donabate last September.
The inquest was told the woman, a secondary school teacher, suffered from depression after the birth of her daughter and due to pressure at work. She was withdrawn and had received medical treatment. On September 22nd she visited her parents for lunch and returned home to meet her son from school. Sometime later she went out again with her daughter.
Mr David Thornbury, a train driver, said he was driving the Dublin-Drogheda train. He saw the woman coming on to the track and blew the hooter. She looked up but continued on to his side of the track. He could see her clearly. The collision happened in a second. He could not prevent it. The jury returned a verdict of suicide in the case of the woman and an open verdict in the case of her daughter.
It is the policy of The Irish Times in reporting certain inquests to protect the identities of deceased persons and/or their families.