Open verdict in case of woman who fell from Limerick city apartment 

AN OPEN verdict was recorded following the inquest into the death of a woman who fell from an apartment in the city last year.

The body of the 60-year-old was discovered at around 9.15am last October on the ground outside the apartment complex where she was living.

“There was a lot of blood around the head area,” said Garda Mick Moloney who attended the scene.

A relative of the woman told coroner John McNamara her husband had died a number of months earlier and that she was not sleeping and was in a “low mood”.

The inquest was told a post mortem which was carried out at University Hospital Limerick confirmed the woman sustained multiple injuries which were consistent with her falling from a height.

Consultant Pathologist DrTeresa Laszlo said she sustained a skull fracture and multiple rib fractures.

Toxicology tests confirmed there was a high concentration of a prescribed anxiety-related medication.

Dr Laszlo said the drug is known to cause clumsiness, unsteadiness and that it can also affect a user’s speed of reaction.

“It may have been a factor (in the fall),” she said.

Garda Moloney said the woman’s apartment was searched following her death and that no (suicide) note was found.

Coroner John McNamara said there is a presumption in law against a verdict of suicide and that the threshold is beyond a reasonable doubt.

He noted there were no witnesses to the fall and that it was not known how the woman came to be on the ground.

In the circumstances, he said an open verdict was appropriate.

“I can’t call it an accident or suicide,” he said.