Psychiatrist 'drowned daughter, 16, to end her anorexia depression'

[Guest guest]

Psychiatrist 'drowned daughter, 16, to end her anorexia depression'

Last updated at 20:06pm on 15th January 2008 A psychiatrist drowned

her daughter in a bath to end her depression from anorexia, a court

heard.

Lynn Gibbs told investigators she also plotted to kill herself with

an overdose, because she was so depressed at her daughter's decline

in health.

Dublin's Central Criminal Court heard the 16-year-old's body was

found by her heartbroken father on the floor of an en-suite bathroom.

Scroll down for more...

Accused: Lynn Gibbs is alleged to have drowned her daughter and then

taken a cocktail of drugs herself in a suicide bid

His semi-conscious wife, who had taken a cocktail of sleeping tablets

and anti-depressants, was wet on the bedroom floor.

" I remember being very low, " she later told Gardai, Irish police.

" I believed there was no hope for Ciara or myself. I planned that

we'd both die. "

Mrs Gibbs, 47, from Killure in Gowran, Co Kilkenny, has pleaded not

guilty to murder, but the prosecution say she admits to killing her

daughter on grounds of insanity.

Prosecuting n Grehan SC said Mrs Gibbs and her husband Gerard

were first concerned their daughter had an eating disorder during the

summer of 2006 after an exchange trip, deportment course and family

holiday.

By that September Mrs Gibbs began suffering from sleepless nights,

weight loss and depression, had stopped working, and had visited a

number of doctors who had prescribed medication.

The court heard although a doctor was concerned that Ciara's was

about a stone underweight, they believed Mrs Gibbs had become

obsessed with it and had an inappropriate gloomy outlook in to her

daughter's medical prognosis.

Two psychiatrist experts said Mrs Gibbs had been suffering from a

major depressive disorder on the night she killed her daughter and

driven by a powerful sense of hopelessness that there was no future

for them both.

" Lynn Gibbs felt her daughter was in a state of severe suffering that

wasn't going to go but that was going to persist, " said Prof

Fahey, of the Institute of Psychiatry.

" She felt through a type of distorted responsibility that came from

her emotions she should act to relieve her daughter from her

suffering and take her own life at the same time. "

Prof Fahey said Mrs Gibbs also began to have " fleeting " thoughts on

suicide which she kept to herself.

A heartbroken Mr Gibbs, a college lecturer, sobbed openly as he told

the court he and his son Gearoid, 14, were visiting his elderly

mother over night when the tragedy occurred.

He found his daughter lying on the bathroom floor, with her pyjama

top wet.

The youngster died sometime between 11pm on November 25, 2006 and

10am on November 26.

State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, said the teenager died from

drowning with internal bruising at the back of the head, shoulders

and rib cage revealing the youngster had had her head held under the

water.

Mrs Gibbs - who was wet and had knife marks to her wrists - was

rushed to St Luke's Hospital, Kilkenny, and transferred to St

's in Dublin before being committed to the Central Mental

Hospital where she has been undergoing intense treatment.

The devastated dad said his wife and daughter had an excellent

relationship and they had an excellent marriage.

" She loved Ciara, " he whispered in tears.

Flanked by two women, the psychiatrist showed no emotion while

details of what happened that tragic night unfolded.

Leading investigator Superintendent Aidan Roche said she told gardai

that although she could hardly recall the night concerned she

remembered running a bath, calling Ciara in to her room, and did not

think there had been a struggle.

" I recall pushing her underneath the water, " she said.

" I recall taking her out of the bath. I think she was dead at that

stage. " I got in to the bath after taking the medication.

" I went under the water but I wasn't able to stay under. I don't

recall when I cut my wrists. "

Mr Grehan told the jury of nine women and three men that in order to

return a not guilty verdict by reason of insanity they had to be

satisfied the accused did not know the nature or the quality of the

act, she didn't know it was wrong, or was unable to refrain from

doing the act.

The court heard the accused was put on sleeping tablets when she went

to boarding school at 12, suffered an eating disorder at 17, a bout

of clinical depression and attempted suicide at 20 while studying

medicine at Trinity College, and that her mother had taken her own

life at the age of 49 by drinking weed killer.

Prof Fahey said Mrs Gibbs had developed a coping mechanism of

compartmentalising problems and this was the first time in her

married or family life she had something very serious to worry about.

He agreed with Dr Cleo Van Velsen, a consultant psychiatrist in

forensic psychotherapy, that Mrs Gibbs suffered from two of the

criteria needed to be found not guilty by reason of insanity.

" In her own mind she thought it was the right thing to do, " added Dr

Van Velsen. " She had an overwhelming sense of compassion and couldn't

refrain. "

Although now in remission from the episode, Prof Fahey said Mrs Gibbs

remains on anti-depressant and anti-psychotic medication in the

Central Mental Hospital and appealed for assistance for her family.

Mr Justice Carney told the packed courtroom that the particular

verdict being sought could only be returned by a jury once the case

was heard in an open court.

The case continues.