A 16-year-old youth accessed two Internet sites dealing with suicide the night before he was found hanging in his home, an inquest at Dublin city coroner's court heard yesterday.
The student was found hanging by a bedsheet in the attic of a house in north Dublin on April 15th last. He was dead on admission to Beaumont Hospital. The youth had won a home computer with Internet access in a competition a week before his death and his younger sister told investigating gardai he had accessed the suicide sites the night before he died.
The computer was examined by gardai but nothing of significance was found on its hard disc. The youth was last seen by his sister and her friend who left the house for 20 minutes on the night of his death. When they returned they found him hanging and raised the alarm.
The coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, sought details of the web addresses of the sites the youth visited. He told the boy's family he could not say if the Internet visits were a factor in the death.
The boy's father said he did not believe his son intended to take his own life. He had just got a part-time job and was saving to buy a car. It appeared to him it was an experiment which had gone tragically wrong. He said he understood one of the sites offered a dare as to "how far you would go".
Dr Farrell recorded an open verdict and said he would investigate the sites identified in the public interest.
It is the policy of The Irish Times in reporting certain inquests to protect the identities of deceased persons and/or their families.