Gail O’Rorke ‘over the moon’ after acquittal in assisted suicide case

Gail O'Rorke said she was over the moon after being acquitted of assisting in the suicide of her late friend Bernadette Forde.

In a written statement delivered following he verdict in her trial, Ms O’Rorke said Ms Forde’s family has had to “endure intrusions into her privacy which she always guarded so carefully”.

Ms O’Rorke said the last four years, and particularly a “very gruelling” last three weeks, had been very difficult for her and her family.

She thanked her legal team, the judge and jury in the case and "members of An Garda Síochána for their compassionate investigation and presentation".

“Above all I would like to thank my family and friends for the incredible support especially during the past three weeks which has been a truly gruelling ordeal for us,” she said.

"Finally I want to thank my husband Barry whose love and support have never faltered."

As she left the court, Ms O’Rorke said she was “over the moon” with the jury’s decision.

Tom Curran, whose partner Marie Fleming unsuccessfully challenged the law banning assisted suicide in the Supreme Court in 2013, said Ms O'Rorke should never have come before the courts.

He said this was because of the “fact that Marie had gone to the trouble of challenging the constitutionality of the law to protect me, not to protect her, to protect me because she had her plan in place”.

“In the Supreme Court decision [on Ms Fleming’s challenge] the statement that was made about using the same guidelines that are used in the UK meant that this should never have been before the courts.”

The Supreme Court had ruled prosecutions for assisted suicides were "exclusively" a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Previously, the High Court had said it was "sure" the DPP would act in a "humane and sensitive" way when considering such prosecutions.