Siobhan Ann Emmett (PELLEGRINI)

Posted by Michael Emmett (brother of Siobhan) 6th Oct 2014. Dear family & friends. Sorry it has taken so long to provide you with this update but it is important that you know. It took 18 months for the coroner to determine Siobhan's cause of death, which resulted in 3 toxicology examinations and various experts analysing the results. All results came back negative, the final one in May 2014, confirming that Siobhan did not take her own life through overdose. We went to the funeral based on police assumptions and “suggestive” physical evidence of which in the end, was incorrect. Had we been informed of the first toxicology report, which was issued prior to Siobhan's funeral, the tone of the funeral would have been different. But that was not to be. Whatever the case, we learnt weeks and months later that Siobhan was not well, suffering depression, anxiety/ panic attacks and just came over a relationship breakdown. The days leading to Siobhan's death were stinking hot and the night of her death was around 40 degrees. She was found 3 days later, and with the heat, her body had started to decompose faster than normal thus not allowing certain tests to be conducted that may have assisted the coroner to determine cause of death. We did learn from the coroner that Siobhan had chronic inflammation around her heart but they were not able to confirm or deny if the cause of Siobhan's death was due to heart failure. It was only a couple of weeks before Siobhan's death that she sought medical help to alleviate her heart palpitations of which she most likely thought was related to her anxiety and depression. We suspect the relationship breakdown had exacerbated her physical and emotional condition. All this being said, the coroner could not determine Siobhan's cause of death. They asked us if we wanted to request an inquest but made it very clear that this would not guarantee any further findings. After the Coroner came back to us with their findings, this put our minds at rest - it had confirmed our beliefs all along that Siobhan did not, and would never have deliberately taken her own life, leaving her son behind. We accept the possibility that Siobhan knew that something wasn’t right and in a delirious and emotional state she did not or could not seek help. The wonderful thing for the family and for Siobhan’s son Aidan is that we know for certain that Siobhan did not desperately take her own life. Although the cause of Siobhan's death will be recorded us “unknown”, we know Siobhan is in a better place, no longer suffering. We will rest Siobhan’s ashes in Burraneer Bay in mid January 2015, just after the 2nd anniversary of her funeral and when I come back from China for a 2 week holiday. The gathering will only be family and a couple of very close old friends of Siobhan’s. And as for Siobhan’s son Aidan - he is doing great. He will be 17 in January and is a lovely young man. Our family is very proud of him. He lives with his dad Paul who is doing a great job. We all see each other regularly and keep in touch. In fact Aidan just recently came and visited us in China which was lovely. So now it is time to move on, say a prayer for our beautiful Siobhan and say our final goodbye knowing what we know now. Love to you all Michael & the family!