Bridget lay dead for up to three months
AN elderly recluse whose body lay undiscovered in her Wexford home for up to three months, died of natural causes, an inquest in Wexford was told.
The body of eighty-two years old Bridget Crosbie was found by gardai in a downstairs bedroom of her house at 29 The Faythe on November 20 last year after her family became concerned for her welfare.
Ms. Crosbie, a former nurse who was a member of a secretive Spanish sect known as the Palmarian Catholic Church , was last seen in mid-August 2015 when she had an accidental fall on the street near her home but when an ambulance was called she refused to go to hospital.
Garda Karl Breheny told the inquest before Coroner for Wexford Dr. Sean Nixon that he met the deceased’s sister Johanna and brother Robert Crosbie outside the house on the day her body was found. He noticed dead flies on the window sills inside.
A locksmith was contacted to gain entry to the house where the fully-clothed body of Bridget Crosie lay on a bedroom floor. There were a lot of boxes and papers in the room.
Ms. Crosbie’s remains were identified by her sister Johanna of 51 Castle Gardens, Enniscorthy who informed the inquest that since the late 1970’s or early 80’s her contact with Bridget became less and less due to her involvement in an alternative religious group.
Due to the rules of the group, Bridget wasn’t allowed to have contact with people who didn’t have the same beliefs and dress code, she said.
Johanna said she lived in Boston for 40 years and after she returned to Ireland in 2009, she tried to contact her sister at various times by knocking on her door but she got no answer.
The last time she saw her was on December 5, 2012 when she saw her walking on the street near her home in The Faythe. Johanna said Bridget didn’t recognise her at first and she said ‘Breda [Bridget], it’s your sister.’
Johanna asked Bridget’s permission to walk alongside her and they walked together as far as Trinity Street. All the talk was about religion, she said.
She tried to contact her sister after that but she never got any answer when she called. On the day Bridget was found, Johanna and her brother Robert had gone to Wexford Garda Station to express their concern for Bridget’s welfare as they had noticed the letter box in her door was broken and had not heard of anybody seeing her in quite a while
A neighbour of Bridget Crosbie, Sean O’Leary, told the inquest that over the previous 13 years, he had tried to make contact with her but all he ever got was a smile.
He said that on many occasions over the years, when the neighbours thought she was missing or sick, they would contact the gardai to have her checked out.
On one occasion, when a garda gained access, she was sitting in a chair inside, laughing.
Mr. O’ Leary said his neighbour had a habit of going to Dublin for a week at a time for her religion.
He said the last time he saw Bridget was the last week of July or the first week of August. He said she had not been seen since the day the ambulance left.
The Coroner Dr. Nixon explained that on that occasion Bridget Crosbie had fallen on the street and had refused to got in an ambulance when it was called.
Mr. O’ Leary said he had a look in his neighbour’s windows at the end of August or beginning of September but didn’t see anything.
Consultant Pathologist Dr. Robert Landers who carried out a post-mortem examination at Waterford University Hospital said the remains of the Wexford woman were in an advanced state of decomposition which indicated that death had taken place many weeks or even up to two to three months earlier.
Dr. Landers said there was evidence of chronic lung and renal disease and it was reasonable to assume that death was due to unascertained natural causes.
Putting the date of death at mid-August, Dr. Nixon said that due to the advanced state of decomposition it was difficult to have an exact cause of death.
Dr. Nixon said Bridget’s decision to alienate herself from family and friends due to her religious beliefs must have been very difficult for them. In those circumstances, it was difficult for her family and neighbours to keep an eye on her and that is how this tragedy came to pass.
‘Presumably, the church she was involved in wasn’t there for her either,’ he added.
The coroner joined with Superintendent James Doyle and jury foreman Dan Redmond in expressing sympathy with Ms. Crosbie’s family.