Rope death ‘experiment’ gone wrong

A MAN who was found suspended in his bathroom and who died of ligature strangulation was experimenting and did not intend to take his own life, an inquest has heard.

Robert McGarry, aged 48, of Rathfarnam Mill, Church Lane, Rathfarnam, Dublin, was found in the bathroom of the apartment where he lived alone by a garda on April 7 last after his brother expressed concern about him as he had not shown up for work.

There was a rope around Mr McGarry’s neck and left ankle. Investigating sergeant Brendan O’Sullivan told the Dublin County coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty at an inquest into his death that he believed it was an accidental death and that Mr McGarry was controlling the rope by having it around his ankle.

A book on near-death experiences was found in Mr McGarry’s room, the sergeant said.

The coroner said all the evidence pointed to the fact that this was an experiment.

“It’s known people sometimes carry out partial strangulation for various reasons,” he said.

“People who carry out these experiments should be warned that putting a ligature around their neck can cause instant unconsciousness and death,” he said.

While they think they are in control, they are not, he said, recording a verdict of death by misadventure.

“This is a very tragic event,” he said.

The court heard that Garda Shane Whelan went to Mr McGarry’s apartment on April 7 with a locksmith after his brother Joseph McGarry came to Rathfarnam Garda Station and expressed concern that his brother had not shown up for work that day.

The 48-year-old worked at Bord Fáilte, the inquest heard.

Mr McGarry’s body was suspended from a board placed across the top of the shower.

He displayed no signs of life.

A postmortem found he died from asphyxia due to ligature strangulation.

Sergeant O’Sullivan agreed with the coroner that the way “this was set up in the bathroom” indicated it was a deliberate experiment.

He told the coroner he had never come across any similar cases.

His brother Bernard McGarry told the coroner he saw his brother two weeks earlier and they had arranged to play golf.

Asked by the coroner if he had mentioned “this book he was reading,” he said “no”, but said his brother read widely.

Another brother, Joseph, had visited him four days earlier and said he was in good form and didn’t appear depressed.

He said he did not discuss the book on near-death experiences with him.