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Student died from dance drug overdose
after row with lover
Inquest hears how man collapsed after begging his boyfriend to take him back
A LAW student took a fatal overdose of the dance drug GHB after a lovers’ tiff, an inquest heard.
Paramedics found 23-year-old Philip Rooney unconscious and “flat-lining” at his ex-partner’s flat in Centrepoint House, St Giles High Street, shortly before 9pm on July 15 this year.
Irish-born Mr Rooney, of Villiers Street, Charing Cross, had taken up to four times a lethal dose of the class A drug following an argument with his former boyfriend, Robson da Silva, St Pancras Coroner’s Court heard. Mr da Silva told the court how they had used the drug together in the course of their two-and-a-half-year relationship, but that Mr Rooney’s use had grown increasingly serious.
He said: “Philip was the sweetest guy in the world.
“He was a very shy person. When he took the drugs he was happy and talkative, so he kept taking them.”
Members of Mr Rooney’s family shook their heads as Mr da Silva described how Philip had squandered money they had given him to buy a flat on a lifestyle of clubbing and drugs.
His sister Loretta said she had spoken to Philip on the day he died.
“We were talking about him coming home the next day and he was in grand form,” she said. “If anything was wrong he would call me and tell me.”
Mr Rooney had gone to Mr da Silva’s flat at about 5pm that evening in the hope they could get back together.
“He said he had nobody any more and he was alone,” said Mr da Silva. “We had sex. He wanted more but I said ‘No’. I said it would be better if he left.”
When Mr Rooney would not leave, Mr da Silva went to a friend’s flat downstairs.
Shortly afterwards Mr Rooney joined him, saying he was sorry before collapsing in a fit.
Mr da Silva told the court he had initially thought the seizure was an attempt to win sympathy.
“Philip used ‘G’ many many times,” he said. “He would smuggle it into clubs in condoms. He used to take it and then collapse and I would have to take care of him.”
“G” or GHB was a clear liquid drug common on the gay scene, explained Mr da Silva.
“You see people collapsing three or four times a night in clubs,” he added. “There’s no way to know how much you’re taking.”
GBL, a brake-cleaning fluid, can also be taken to produce the same effect, said Mr da Silva.
The court heard how Mr da Silva had found open condoms in the sink when he returned to his apartment. He had carried Mr Rooney back up to his apartment and put him in bed and then realised he had stopped breathing.
After failing to resuscitate him Mr da Silva called an ambulance, flushed the drug condoms down the toilet and prayed beside Mr Rooney.
Coroner Dr Andrew Reid ruled out deliberate self-harm, saying: “Mr Rooney showed no evidence to his sister of suicidal ideation or depression. I am satisfied he took GHB in order to achieve the effect of the drug rather than to end his own life.
“He died from either GHB or GBL toxicity. There was no evidence that he was dependent on the drugs. The appropriate conclusion is that Philip Rooney died as a result of misadventure.” |
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