Sinead O'Connor says son Shane planned his own funeral a month before taking his life

In a series of tweets, Sinead O'Connor shared how 'we all failed him' as her son planned funeral a month before dying by suicide
UPDATED JAN 11, 2022
Sinead O'Connor with her late son Shane (Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images and diarionortecom/Instagram)
Sinead O'Connor with her late son Shane (Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images and diarionortecom/Instagram)

Trigger Warning: Suicide

In the series of raging tweets she shared, Sinead O'Connor railed against Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) for discharging her 17-year old son just one month before he died by suicide. Despite being aware of the fact that Shane O'Connor, 17, had prepared detailed funeral plans, CAMHS, in addition to other authorities 'failed' him. 

The heartbroken mother described her late son as "the light of her life" and that he had "decided to end his earthly struggle". Shane O'Connor took his life by hanging himself two days after he went missing from Dublin's Tallaght Hospital. As shared by the Nothing Compares 2 U singer, the facility refuses to take any responsibility.

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O'Connor's late son had been missing since Thursday and the authorities launched an appeal to find him. In the tweets she shared, she typed, "My beautiful son, Nevi’im Nesta Ali Shane O’Connor, the very light of my life, decided to end his earthly struggle today and is now with God." She added, "May he rest in peace and may no one follow his example. My baby. I love you so much. Please be at peace."

Talking about when her son escaped the facility, the heartbroken mother, 55, said she will sue the hospital if anything indicative of them being able to prevent his death is signified. In addition, she claims the staff failed to 'keep watch' on her son. "How has a seventeen-year-old traumatized young person, who was on suicide watch, in Tallaght Hospital’s Lynn Ward been able to go missing???" she asked. 

O'Connor told The Sun that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) cannot comment on individual cases when to do so might reveal information in relation to identifiable individuals, breaching the ethical requirement on us to observe our duty of confidentiality."

When her later 17-year old went missing, she took to social media, saying, "My world would collapse without you. You are my heart. Please don’t stop it from beating. Please don’t harm yourself. Go to the Gardai and let’s get you to hospital. This is a message for my son, Shane. Shane, it’s not funny any more all this going missing. You are scaring the crap out of me. Could you please do the right thing and present yourself at a Gardai station. If you are with Shane please call the Gardai for his safety". 

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