THE MOTHER OF two boys found dead at their Sligo family home last year has called for greater awareness of the issues around mental health.

Shane Michael Skeffington, 20, stabbed his nine-year-old brother, Brandon, and took his own life on 20 July 2014.

Carmel Skeffington told RTÉ’s Today With Sean O’Rourke programme this morning that her eldest son had been released from a psychiatric hospital two months before the incident.

She said the family first became aware that Shane Michael was unwell when he hit his father in May 2014.

It was totally out of character. Shane Michael loved his dad. He loved me and the rest of the family.

Carmel said her son had been smoking cannabis in the weeks before the assault and that she felt his giving it up had “triggered something” in him.

Shane Michael was admitted to St Columba’s Hospital in Sligo, where he was treated for a psychotic episode in a high-dependency unit.

Carmel told presenter Sean O’Rourke that he had to be restrained to receive medication during his six days in the facility and that he refused to take his medicine on returning home.

She said the family assumed he had recovered once he was discharged and that they received no further directions from the hospital about caring for him.

‘Out of our depth’

Carmel said Shane Michael subsequently skipped “at least” four outpatient appointments, feeling he did not require the help.

Once he moved back to the family home, she said, he was “quiet”.

He spent time cuddling with Brandon or Callum [another younger brother], watching cartoons, cleaning his car. He wasn’t as outgoing as he had been. He spent a lot of time on his own, in his room.

She thought it was “a good thing” that he was spending so much time at home.

“We thought he was better, only quieter,” she said.

“I think more needs to be done along the lines of following up,” Carmel added.

People need to be educated more. Maybe if we had known about the dangers of a psychotic illness or psychotic episode, that it could happen again…

We were out of our depth. We didn’t understand.

On the day of her sons’ deaths, Carmel said she had went shopping with her husband, leaving the two boys in Brandon’s room.

That was nothing unusual – they spent a lot of time together.

She said she went upstairs after getting home to check if they wanted something to eat and found Brandon on the landing, lying still on his back.

Her husband later found Shane Michael outside the house.

The brothers, she said, had “loved each other very much”.

Michael spoiled Brandon. He absolutely adored him.

Helplines:

• Samaritans 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org
• Console  1800 247 247 (suicide prevention, self-harm, bereavement)
• Aware 1890 303 302 (depression, anxiety)
• Pieta House 01 601 0000 or email mary@pieta.ie - (suicide, self-harm)
• Teen-Line Ireland 1800 833 634 (for ages 13 to 19)
• Childline 1800 66 66 66 (for under 18s)

Read: Deaths of two brothers ‘the worst tragedy to ever hit’ Sligo community