THE FAMILY of a 34-year-old Irishman who was found dead in his apartment in Germany last December has called on the German authorities to reopen an investigation into the circumstances of his death.
Matthew Fitzpatrick, an interface engineer from Portumna, Co Galway, was found dead in his apartment in Mannheim on the morning of December 11th, 2010.
The second-youngest of nine children, he was due to return to Ireland for Christmas two days later.
His ex-partner, Sabrina Krause, made the discovery when she arrived at the apartment at 11.00am after checking out of a hotel an hour earlier, a police investigation in Germany found.
She was found a short time later by a neighbour crying that it was all her fault. She had a knife in her hand, had taken an overdose and had to be restrained when she tried to jump out of a window, the inquest heard.
Ms Krause and Mr Fitzpatrick, who had been in a relationship for approximately eight years, had separated about two months earlier.
The German police took the position that the death was suicide, an inquest at Dublin County Coroner’s Court heard yesterday.
But his family reject any notion Mr Fitzpatrick took his own life.
He was thinking about moving back to Ireland or to the United States, his brother, Daniel, said.
Mr Fitzpatrick’s body was repatriated to Ireland on December 17th, where the deputy state pathologist, Dr Khalid Jaber, carried out a second postmortem. Dr Jaber found Mr Fitzpatrick’s death was due to asphyxia due to ligature strangulation.
Giving evidence, the pathologist was unable to clarify the matter further and said suicidal strangulation, suicidal hanging and third-party strangulation were all possibilities. A high level of alcohol was detected in Mr Fitzpatrick’s blood, as well as a therapeutic level of an anti-depressant. He was having a relationship with a woman whose husband was harassing him and ringing him up to 20 times a day, the inquest was told.
A jury of nine recorded an open verdict after hearing the evidence.
Coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty had advised them they should not bring in a verdict of suicide if they had any doubt. He said there was no evidence Ms Krause, or anybody else, was in the apartment.
Following the inquest, solicitor for the Fitzpatrick family Peter Tunney said the family welcomed the open verdict and were calling on the German authorities to reopen the investigation.
“Matthew’s death remains a terrible and unexplained tragedy,” said a statement issued by the family through Mr Tunney. “We continue to miss him greatly and as a family feel that we have to persevere to establish the full picture of his death.”