Suicide teen may have been sent Facebook threats

The mother of a teenager who took his own life has told a coroner that he may have received threatening messages on Facebook before his death.

Elaine Hughes made the claim while speaking from the body of the court at the inquest into the death of her 17-year-old son, Darren Hughes-Gibson, who was found at Stephenstown Industrial Estate in Balbriggan, Dublin, on Aug 23 last year.

The court heard gardaí were searching for Darren after he was reported missing by his mother when he did not return to his home at New Haven Bay in Balbriggan the previous night. Ms Hughes said her son was a “happy young man” who had been in “good spirits” on the day he disappeared.

She became worried when he did not return home by 10pm and his phone was powered off. She reported him missing the following morning.

Garda Derek Dalton said the body was found by one of Darren’s friends, who was searching for him after seeing on Facebook that he was missing.

The friend told gardaí that Darren had been in the same building — an abandoned warehouse — a few days prior to his death and had been “very down”.

The friend went to the building to make sure Darren had “not done anything to himself there”, Garda Dalton said, and when he found the body attempted CPR and alerted emergency services.

When gardaí investigated Darren’s mobile phone, they found a text sent to his mother which coroner Brian Farrell described as a “farewell note” written in “loving terms”.

Addressing the coroner during Garda Dalton’s evidence, Ms Hughes said she believed her son was being bullied because he was mixed race and had a hearing aid. She said that she had heard “plenty of rumours” following his death.

“I was told that there were threatening messages on his Facebook that were deleted when he passed away,” she said.

Garda Dalton said that gardaí had requested information relating to one of Darren’s Facebook accounts from the social networking site but that it may take six to nine months to get a response. Ms Hughes that there might also be messages on another Facebook account which her son had deactivated.

“I will wait six months, nine months, six years to find out. I need to know what drove him to this,” she said.

Dr Farrell said he would make separate enquiries to Facebook regarding Darren’s accounts. He adjourned the inquest for further mention in March.