An inquest heard yesterday how a soldier shot himself in the head with a rifle on the morning gardai called to his Army barracks to speak to him about a sexual assault on an elderly woman.
Pte Robert McKnight (22), of Blackrock, The Quays, Ballina, was found with a gunshot injury to his head in a toilet cubicle at Custume Barracks, Athlone. Gardai had just arrived at the barracks to interview Pte Mc Knight about an attack on a 76-year-old Ballina woman the previous day.