Woman lay dead in house for 4 months
Her body was discovered when her dead cat was spotted inside the window.
Coroner for South Kerry Terence Casey said there was a lesson for everyone “to keep an eye out for our neighbours”.
The woman was identified as Lalita Sarna, aged 50 or 51, a British passport holder. She had lived in Kenmare in what was originally a holiday home development on the Sneem Road just outside the town, since December 2011 and before that had lived in Tralee for some time, gardaí believed.
No family of the dead woman came forward despite appeals by gardaí, who conducted appeals here and searches through Interpol in June, shortly after the remains were found.
Ms Sarna, who was born on March 11, 1962, had lived in rental accommodation at Kenmare Holiday Homes, Gortmullen, Kenmare, and kept very much to herself, the inquest heard.
A county council worker who called to the front door of the house in late May noticed a dead cat inside the window and raised the alarm.
The Limerick property company which owns a number of rental properties was contacted, and it sent a local man who does occasional maintenance work for the firm, to the house.
Inside, the maintenance man found a lot of unopened post inside the front door, including demands for rent, the inquest heard.
The maintenance man also found the cat dead on the ground floor, and at the top of the landing upstairs there was a badly decomposed person. Clothing on the woman was consistent with the small size of clothing found in the house.
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster said the cause of death could not be determined but there were no signs of trauma.
The woman appeared to have a very low body mass index, some of which might be explained by the stage of decomposition, and she noted the clothes in the house were of a small size.
A witness, a local woman who works in houses in the area, said she had last seen Ms Sarna on February 1, 2013, going to the shop. She kept very much to herself.
In the months before, she appeared to have become very thin, said the witness, who worked in houses in the development.
Ms Sarna’s date of death could not be determined exactly and was found to have occurred between February 1, 2013, when she was last seen and May 24, 2013, when her body was discovered.
The coroner appealed to neighbours in Kerry to watch out for one another. Saying it was a very sad situation, Mr Casey remarked: “It is a lesson to all of us to watch out for one another.”
Gardaí in Kenmare had issued several appeals for relatives to come forward.
They said Ms Sarna was a UK citizen but they believed her to be of Indian extraction. She had lived in Tralee some years ago, but had re-emerged in Kenmare in 2011.
At the time, gardaí said she had been living at the Kenmare Holiday Homes since December 2011 and had been drawing social welfare.
When her body was discovered the house was spotlessly clean and tidy and no drugs or drink were in evidence. There was only a little food found, gardaí said at the time.
