AN inquest into the death of a Newry man at a house party which was initially investigated as murder, has found that he died from an accidental overdose of drugs.
Aidan McCabe (34), a resident of shared living accommodation at Kilmorey House in Newry, was found dead on the morning of March 13, 2019 in a house in Acorn Hill, Bessbrook.
The PSNI was alerted to the south Armagh address following a 999 call by a “hysterical female” at approximately 10.15am.
When they arrived a short time later they found Mr McCabe dead in an upstairs bed.
The unemployed bricklayer’s sudden death was initially investigated as a murder after a 40-year-old woman at the scene told police she killed him.
The woman said she hit out at McCabe who was holding her down on a settee in an intoxicated state.
“I’d been beaten by a man a week before and I wasn’t going to let it happen again,” she told the inquest.
However, following a post mortem report by pathologist, Dr Peter Ingram all six people arrested at the property were released.
Bruises were sustained to Mr McCabe’s eyes and jaw with lacerations to his lip.
A build-up of blood was found in the deceased’s respiratory system, although Mr Ingram said that the cocktail of prescribed and non-prescibed drugs were responsible for his death with the overload of opioids depressing the part of the brain responsible for breathing.
The inquest heard that the drugs alone would have killed him, with the assault playing no part.
Those present at the party recalled how Mr McCabe arrived at around 11pm and described how he was “dribbling badly” and “couldn’t walk straight” being “badly out of it”.
It was said that the deceased had been injecting cocaine and taking strips of Xanax and Lyrica tablets.
A GP report, produced to the inquest, showed that Mr McCabe had been prescribed a host of anti-depression and anxiety drugs since 2007.
He was further prescribed daily doses of methadone as a heroin/opioid addict from 2010.
In 2012, Mr McCabe presented with drug induced paranoid thoughts and was referred to St Luke’s addiction unit.
Hospital records showed that the deceased had overdosed three times in 2013 and formed a similar pattern up to 2019.
A toxicology report following his death also found that Mr McCabe was self-medicating with further anxiety drugs, Pregabalin (Lyrica) and Alprazolam (Xanax) as well as cocaine and alcohol.
Mr McCabe's father Derek told coroner Suzanne Anderson, that losing his son had been "devastating".
“He had a major problem with drugs and mental health with anxiety,” he said.
“He was always trying to fix himself, but really making himself worse, you couldn’t get through to him. He just took too much."
Coroner Anderson, reported her findings as “accidental death” and offered her “very deepest sympathies to the family” of the deceased.
