Man, 20, hanged himself after threat

Mar 20 2008 Western Mail

A 20-YEAR-OLD killed himself after being threatened over money before his death, his inquest heard yesterday.

Andrew O’Neill’s sister told the court two boys had come looking for him and that one had threatened to shoot him.

Charlene O’Neill, who was close to her 20-year-old brother, said, “He was getting threatened.”

Coroner Philip Walters asked, “You think he may have owed them money, but he was very frightened?”

She replied, “Yes.”

The man who threatened to shoot Andrew also asked him to deal drugs on his behalf, but he refused, the court heard.

Asked if it had a “serious effect on Andrew”, Charlene said, “Yes.”

She confirmed he had been acting “edgy and nervous” in the three months prior to his death.

The inquest was told the threats were not reported to the police while Andrew was alive. Someone was interviewed after his death but not charged.

Andrew had a “mischievous side” and had been in trouble with the police from time to time, but never for anything serious, the court heard.

He waited at his sister’s house in Nantymoel to let in a plumber the day before he died last September.

But he did not answer when Charlene tried to phone and the next morning she noticed a washing line was missing from her garden, the inquest heard.

Charlene and her mother found Andrew hanged at an empty house in Pembroke Terrace, Nantymoel.

Recording a verdict of suicide, Mr Walters said Andrew’s family was “obviously very close knit”.

He said he had no doubt in his mind that Andrew would have been affected by the threats he received.

“Whether they are the actual reason why he did what he did I cannot say,” he added.

“But I am sure they did have some effect on him.”