Mystery still surrounds death of siblings

The deaths of a brother and sister in a city house seven months ago may have been a tragic accident – but with carbon monoxide poisoning ruled out, they will always remain unexplained.

At the Inquest in Galway Courthouse, Coroner for West Galway, Dr Ciaran MacLoughlin, was unable to answer the questions posed by the family of Gavin Ridgard (50) and Patricia Kerr (58) who died at 27 Coogan Park, Newcastle, on February 9 last.

“There is nothing here to say that it was intentional – there was no note, and they didn’t tell anyone – it could have been something that went tragically wrong,” he said.

“The combination of tablets that they took stopped their breathing; it shut off part of the brain that makes us breathe, and they fell asleep. Their central nervous systems shut down.”

Gavin had moved in with his sister to the City Council-owned house three years earlier, and they were getting on well, the Inquest was told. They were last seen after the anniversary Mass for their mother, which was held in Westside Church on the evening of February 7.

Three days later, their sister, Joan, rang Patricia’s phone, but got no answer, which she said was unusual; Gavin’s phone was dead.

“I was surprised, but not overly worried,” she recalled.

However, she knew something was wrong when she got a call the following day, February 11, to say that Patricia had not turned up for an appointment.

She and her daughter went to their house, but there was no answer at the door. A Galway City Council worker managed to climb in an unlocked upstairs window and opened the front door. Gavin was found lying on the ground, and Patricia was sitting in a nearby chair. They were pronounced dead at 2.37pm.

Joan Ridgard told the Inquest that Patricia was making plans to move to the UK and live with her son in Kent, and had already started packing, and was due to book her flights that week.

She said that Gavin was upset about this, adding that the tenancy was in Patricia’s name, and that he would have to move out when she left.

Consultant pathologist, Dr Mary Casey, carried out a post mortem examination on the bodies. While she had initially suspected carbon monoxide poisoning – due to the presence of a gas heater in the room – the toxicology reports found that the presence of the poisonous gas in their systems was not at an excessive level.

There was also no alcohol detected, but there were different types of prescribed medication that would have had a depressive effect on their central nervous systems (CNS).

Both had consumed similar medications, although Patricia had a total of nine types – three more than her brother.

Dr Casey could not say for certain when they had died, as this was virtually impossible to detect after three days. However, she said it was reasonable to estimate that death had occurred 48 hours earlier, on February 9.

She concluded that the cause of death was cardio respiratory arrest, due to use of more than two therapeutic drugs that are CNS depressants.

“They interfere with the vital centres of the brain stem that control breathing and the nerves that stimulate the heart,” she explained.

Family members questioned whether or not this was suicide, as both had died in such similar circumstances. Neither Dr Casey nor the Coroner could say if their actions were accidental or intentional.

Inspector Mick O’Dwyer acknowledged that the family had been visited by a lot of tragedy recently, with the death of Gavin’s daughter, Gemma, in the same house nearly a year previously, in April 2014.