Nephew (27) of late Aslan singer Christy Dignam died from cocaine overdose, inquest hears

Seán McCárthaigh

A nephew of the late Aslan singer, Christy Dignam, died from an overdose of cocaine, an inquest has heard.

Chris Dignam-Healy (27), a father of two from Ashbourne, Co Meath died in the emergency department at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital in Dublin on January 23rd, 2023.

The young man had been brought to the hospital by ambulance after he became unwell with a suspected heart attack while visiting an apartment in Gracepark Manor, Whitehall, Dublin.

A sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Tuesday heard the deceased’s mother, Therese Dignam, and other family were concerned about the response of emergency services to a 999 call.

The coroner, Cróna Gallagher, noted that there was no record available to her to show what time the alarm had been raised.

Ms Dignam expressed concern that there were witness statements which indicated there was a delay in getting access to the apartment.

It was also recorded that the apartment was “full of people taking drugs”.

Garda Aidan McHale said he had been unable to Rachel McGowan, the occupant of the apartment who had made the emergency call, despite several attempts.

Garda McHale explained to the coroner that Ms McGowan was now of no fixed abode and could not be located although it was believed she was based somewhere in the Ballymun area.

In reply to questions from Dr Gallagher, he said he had called to the apartment on several occasions but never got an answer.

Garda McHale said he was not aware that the apartment was known to gardaí as a place where drugs were being used.

The deceased’s family also expressed surprise to learn from medical records from his GP that Mr Dignam-Healy was being prescribed methadone as they were unaware of him having any history of using heroin.

However, a medical note written in April 2022 recorded that he was smoking heroin as well as having injected the drug twice.

Ms Dignam observed that it was probably “part of his lifestyle at that time”.

A postmortem showed Mr Dignam-Healy had a high level of cocaine in his body as well as low levels of other drugs including methadone, morphine and benzodiazepines.

The coroner recorded the cause of death as cardiac arrest due to cocaine in his system.

Dr Gallagher acknowledged that details of the deceased’s drug use had come as a shock to his family.

The coroner adjourned the inquest at the request of the deceased’s family in order to try and obtain more information about issues relating to the response of emergency services to the 999 call from the apartment in Whitehall.

Offering her sympathy to Ms Dignam, Dr Gallagher said she would fix another hearing date in a few months when she hoped to have more details about what had happened.

Mr Dignam-Healy’s death occurred just a few weeks after the family of his uncle had confirmed the Aslan frontman was receiving palliative care at home after a lengthy stay in Beaumont Hospital.

The singer was first diagnosed with amyloidosis (an incurable skin condition caused by a build-up of protein in the body) as well as myeloma (a form of blood cancer) in 2013.

The much-loved musician, who had publicly spoken about his own battles with drug addiction including in his autobiography, This is Christy Dignam, died at home on June 13th, 2023 at the age of 63.