Woman cleared of helping friend in suicide bid

A woman has been cleared of attempting to assist the suicide of her friend by helping her travel to a euthanasia clinic in Switzerland.

The jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court took seven hours to find Gail O’Rorke, 43, not guilty of the charge after an eight-day trial. It was the first prosecution under the Criminal Law (Suicide) Act 1993, which decriminalised suicide but made it an offence to assist another to end their life.

Ms O’Rorke, a taxi driver from Kilclare Gardens, Tallaght, was accused of attempting to help Bernadette Forde, 51, get to the Swiss euthanasia clinic Dignitas, a plan that was thwarted when the travel agent alerted gardaí. Ms Forde had been suffering from a severe form of multiple sclerosis.

There were cheers and applause from the large group of Ms O’Rorke’s supporters when the jury forewoman read out the verdict. Ms O’Rorke wept as she heard the decision.

Judge Patrick McCartan told the jury it was not an easy case but “justice has been done at your hands” and it was clear from the length of their deliberations that they had taken their oath seriously.

The judge relieved the jury from further service for 10 years. Ms O’Rorke’s supporters applauded jurors as they left the court.

Ms O’Rorke did not speak publicly afterwards but released a statement welcoming the “hoped-for verdict.”

“The last four years and, in particular, the last three weeks have been very difficult for my family and me,” the statement read. “The family of my dear late friend Bernadette Forde has had to endure the intrusions into her privacy which she always guarded so carefully.”

Ms O’Rorke pleaded not guilty to trying to aid and abet the suicide of Ms Forde by means of attempting to arrange travel to Zurich for such purpose between March 10 and April 20, 2011.

Last week, after legal argument, Judge McCartan ordered the jury to acquit Ms O’Rorke of ordering a lethal dose of barbiturates from Mexico which were later taken by Ms Forde to end her life on June 5, 2011.

The judge also told the jury to find Ms O’Rorke not guilty of “procuring” the suicide of her friend by helping to organise her funeral before her death.

He said the prosecution had not entered enough evidence on these charges for them to go to trial.

The trial heard a garda investigation was launched after Ms Forde’s body was found in her Donnybrook apartment with the drug pentobarbital nearby. The court heard pentobarbital is used in capital punishment in the US and in euthanasia.

One of the first pieces of prosecution evidence was an audio message made by Ms Forde which was also found near her body along with a note that read: “Gardaí I can’t really write. I’ve left a message on this recorder. B. Forde.”

In the recording, Ms Forde states she cannot have “Gail or Mary or anyone” around her anymore for fear she could get them into trouble.

“It’s just so unfair that I can’t contact or chat to anyone and I have to be totally alone. But that’s just it.

“I hope it will make my intentions clear to anyone who wants to question it... It’s me and only me and no one else. I’m just very frustrated it has to be this way. Why is it in Ireland that I can’t get my way to Dignitas?”

DISCOVER MORE CONTENT LIKE THIS