A 25-year-old man whose body was discovered on the grounds of a Dublin hospital had left an emergency department of his “own free will” after making two suicide attempts while in Garda custody hours earlier, an inquest has heard.

Seán O’Neill’s body was found on the grounds of Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown, more than 24 hours after he left the emergency department, shortly after 7am on March 8th, 2017.

Gardaí investigating his disappearance said they were informed he had been voluntarily admitted and he had left of his own free will. They subsequently discovered his remains about a “five-minute walk” away from the emergency department.

Dublin District Coroner’s Court heard on Tuesday that CCTV footage showed a doctor and a security staff member briefly following O’Neill, though he kept walking. His body was found a short distance from where he was last seen on camera.

His partner, Sophie Reed, recalled receiving a phone call from O’Neill shortly before 7am. She said he told her “this was it” and “goodbye”.

O’Neill used a hospital phone to make the call, which Reed rang back within “minutes” and was told by a nurse he had left.

“I assumed, because he was in the hospital, that he was safe,” she said

Reed said her partner had been in court in Blanchardstown on March 7th and told her he was facing a “substantial” custodial sentence.

She said he returned to their home drunk in Mornington, Co Meath, after midnight on March 8th, and that he had also taken cocaine.

She told the inquest her partner rang gardaí and told them he was “going to do something stupid”. She too rang gardaí after he became violent, she said.

Reed maintained she heard her partner telling one of the attending officers that his family would be “better off” without him, adding that she told the other garda he had suicidal thoughts.

However, both gardaí – David Campbell and James Haughey – denied this during the inquest hearing on Tuesday.

Asked by the family’s barrister, Eva Gloster, whether he considered invoking provisions under the Mental Health Act, namely assessment for involuntary admission, Campbell said: “Absolutely not.”

He maintained O’Neill never mentioned suicidal ideation, nor did he show “any indication of self-harm whatsoever”.

O’Neill was subsequently arrested on public order grounds and held in a cell at Ashbourne Garda station.

Garda Jeffrey Moroney, the officer in charge that night, told the coroner he had left the Garda college in Templemore three months prior. Moroney said he was also manning the station’s phone line in the early hours of that morning.

He said he checked on O’Neill, who was the sole prisoner in the station that night and was intoxicated, every 15 minutes.

However, about 20 minutes elapsed between checks at one point due to a call, and he returned to find O’Neill attempting suicide shortly after 4am. An ambulance was called and during the wait, O’Neill attempted suicide again while Moroney was standing at the cell door.

He told the coroner the 25-year-old was released from custody once paramedics arrived. He said gardaí were entitled to keep an intoxicated prisoner detained for up to six hours or until “better care is found for them”.

Asked by Gloster whether he considered the Mental Health Act powers, Moroney said a doctor who comes to the station to assess a prisoner will not involuntarily admit someone who has ingested alcohol or drugs.

“At that point, they’re given a referral letter and released,” he said.

Noting that O’Neill was willing to go in the ambulance, Moroney told the court it was the “best course of action”.

The inquest hearing was due to continue on Wednesday.

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