An open verdict has been returned in the death of a 13-year-old boy who was found hanging from a wardrobe in his bedroom.
The teenager, from a town in Tipperary, was discovered by his mother in an unconscious state on the night of February 18th this year. He died a week later at the Children's University Hospital, Temple Street, Dublin.
Dublin City Coroner's Court heard that the boy had been visiting friends earlier that day and returned home at 8pm. His mother said that he "seemed to be in great form" and he made himself a pizza before sitting down to watch television.
His four younger sisters went to bed and his mother was on the phone when he said he was going to bed. His mother said he went half-way up the stairs and came back down again. He gave her a hug, saying he forgot to hug her earlier, and he said he was sorry that he had slapped his sister.
There had been a minor row between the siblings earlier but nothing out of the ordinary, his mother told the court: "I don't even know what the argument was about."
About six minutes after her son went upstairs, she heard her daughters screaming. She found the boy hanging from the wardrobe by a stereo lead and lifted him down. She tried to carry him downstairs but could only lift him as far as the landing.
"I kept saying to him, get up, you're all right," she said.
Her partner then arrived and tried to resuscitate the boy before the ambulance arrived. A local sergeant told the court he met the boy's mother in the hall and she was "sobbing uncontrollably".
When he examined the boy, he found that his pulse was very weak. The ambulance took the boy to Nenagh hospital but he was later transferred to Dublin. He died on February 25th.
Dublin city coroner Dr Brian Farrell said the postmortem found the teenager had suffered irreparable brain damage in the incident. The cause of death was cerebral hypoxia due to hanging.
"The only words of consolation I can offer you is that was unconscious from the moment that this incident occurred," Dr Farrell told the family.
The sergeant told Dr Farrell the family understood that some of the boy's organs had been removed by the hospital and they wanted to get them back. Dr Farrell said he would ask the hospital to deal with this issue.
He said he would be "very reluctant" to bring in a verdict of suicide because the legal test of suicide could not be met in this case. Under the test, the death must be intentional and this intention must be proved beyond reasonable doubt.
Dr Farrell said it was impossible to prove this because the boy had never indicated that he wanted to harm himself.
"Just what was in mind is impossible for us to say," he said, returning an open verdict. Expressing his condolences to the family, Dr Farrell said it was "a devastating loss" and he could not imagine a worse fate to befall a parent than to lose a son in such tragic circumstances.
"I just hope and pray that you will be able to find the strength to bear this," Dr Farrell said.
