Dorset teenager Gaia Pope died of hypothermia after burying herself in bushes on an open rock or falling into the bushes and may have experienced an episode of mental health or an epileptic seizure at the time, the jury said.
In the hours before she disappeared, 19-year-old Pope said she thought she was pregnant and broke up with her boyfriend before rushing into “rotten weather” without her coat, the jury heard.
The court said Pope was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after she said she was raped at the age of 16. Shortly before she disappeared, her husband sent her obscene images, which caused flashbacks and anxiety.
On the third day of her investigation in Bournemouth, Dr. Russell Delaney, a Homeland Security pathologist, said Pope had a history of mental health problems and epilepsy.
He said that on the afternoon of her disappearance, on November 7, 2017, she began behaving “irrationally” at a friend’s house in her hometown of Swansea, and revealed that she thought she was pregnant, although the previous day’s test was negative. .
She also said that she broke up with her boyfriend, started behaving in a “highly sexualized way” and undressed. Someone persuaded her to put her clothes back on, and she ran away.
Delaney said a member of the public found items of her clothing on Nov. 16 in a field about a mile from where she was last seen and near a place “deep in the undergrowth” where her naked body ended up. opened on November 18.
The pathologist said she suffered several obvious external injuries, in addition to scratches on her torso and legs, which were probably caused by rags and reeds. Delaney said it could be caused if she buried herself in the bush or fell into it. An internal examination found indications that she had died of hypothermia, the court said.
Delaney said Pope may have suffered an episode of mental health and taken off his clothes on top of the cliff, which caused her to become cold and wet and suffer from hypothermia. It is also possible for a phenomenon called “paradoxical undressing” to occur, in which a person suffering from hypothermia begins to take off his clothes because the brain confuses the sensation of cold heat.
The pathologist told the jury that the pope may have behaved called “hide and die”, which is thought to be a primitive response to hypothermia and may involve “burying” indoors.
The court was told that Pope had five to 10 seizures a day at one time, but Delaney said it was impossible to say whether she had a seizure just before she died. Asked about the balance of probabilities whether epilepsy played a role in her death, he replied: “I don’t think it’s possible to say anyway. He may have done it, he may not have done it. ”
Delaney said the death may have taken several hours, but he could not determine the exact time. He also said it was impossible to say when she died – only a few days before her body was found. But he said the characteristics of some of the scratches suggest she died soon after receiving them.
The pathologist said he had been told by police that Pope should see his GP at 5pm on the day she disappeared, and said a relative had called police at 6:18pm.
Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC, who represents members of Pope’s family, stressed that the court was told that the police were called by a member of the teenager’s family at 3:42 p.m. Delaney said the police did not tell him that.
Nor was he told that Pope should have met with police about the obscene images they sent her, or that her family was worried that she had disappeared without her medication.
The investigation continues.
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In the United Kingdom and Ireland, you can contact the Samaritans at 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the United States, the National Suicide Prevention Line is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the Lifeline crisis support service is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.
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