Reporting on suicide - Interest of the public vs family in grief

THE age-old debate on how the media reports suicide has been re-ignited by the tragedy surrounding the deaths of three people in a farmhouse in Co Wicklow.

The tragic circumstances behind this triple killing indicate that the elderly mother and father were, in all probability, shot dead by their son, who then went on to take his own life.

In a heartfelt plea to the media for privacy, a representative of the family said they “need time to come to grips with this appalling tragedy and would ask the media to allow them some consideration and privacy so that they can deal with their grief and loss”.