Sadness at death of 26-year-old Joshua

A verdict of misadventure was recorded at the inquest into the death of Joshua Hughes.

26-year-old Joshua died at his mother’s home at 6, The Heath, Ramsgate Village on September 12, 2017.

Garda Catherine Kehoe said she was called to The Heath shortly before noon. Joshua was lying on the floor in a upstairs bedroom and a neighbour, Carenza McRedmond, who is a nurse, was performing CPR on him. Garda Kehoe said there was evidence of drug use in the room.

Inspector Mark Foley read the deposition of Joshua’s father Maurice who said that he received a call from his wife Emma. He immediately went to the house and found Joshua on the floor. He performed mouth to mouth.

In her deposition Emma Hughes, Joshua’s mother, said Joshua had called to the house on September 11 and said he would stay the night. She wasn’t feeling well and went to bed and Joshua brought her tea, told her he loved her and said he hated the way he was and wanted to go to rehab. The following morning she went into Joshua’s room and found him on the floor.

Dr Nigram Shah who performed the post mortem said the toxicology results showed the presence of heroin, cannabis and other medications. He said that in many cases the levels weren’t particularly high but all the drugs combined had caused cardio respiratory death.

Coroner Dr Sean Nixon recommended a verdict of death by misadventure saying that people taking drugs are taking a high risk and ‘on this occasion Josh didn’t pull through’. He extended sympathy to the Hughes family, saying he knew them very well, adding he had also known Joshua well as he had children the same age.

‘It’s very tragic to see a young person die like this. None of us know if it’s going to be our own child next.’ He thanked the family for attending and sympathy was also extended to the family by the gardai and the jury.