Shane O’Connor Sinead O’Connor son, 17, kills self after escaping suicide watch. Teen son of troubled singer experienced mental health issues like his famed mother.
The 17-year-old teen son of troubled singer, Sinéad O’Connor has died, two days after he was reported missing.
The musician shared the news on social media, writing that he ‘decided to end his earthly struggle’ and asked that ‘no one follows his example’.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, O’Connor tweeted: ‘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. May he rest in peace and may no one follow his example. My baby. I love you so much. Please be at peace.’
Police confirmed the news of the teenager’s suicide death on Saturday.
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Shane O’Connor had been missing since Thursday, with the Gardaí launching an appeal for his whereabouts. The 17-year-old was missing from Newbridge, County Kildare, and was last seen on Friday morning in the Tallaght, Dublin 24 area, the Gardaí said. In the appeal, which was reissued on Friday, officers said they were concerned for his welfare.
Sinead you have always been there for me and for so many people, you have been a comfort & a soul who is not afraid to feel the pain of the suffering. You have always tried to heal & help. I pray that you can be comforted & find strength, healing & peace in your own sorrow & loss pic.twitter.com/cLn8JwTbuX
— Shane MacGowan (@ShaneMacGowan) January 8, 2022
‘My world would collapse without you’
At the time, the singer had posted heartfelt messages on social media asking her son to contact her. ‘Shane, your life is precious. God didn’t chisel that beautiful smile on your beautiful face for nothing,’ she tweeted.
‘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.’
Soon after the Gardaí confirmed that the search for the missing 17-year-old had ended. ‘Following the recovery of a body in the Bray area of Wicklow on Friday 7 January 2022, a missing person appeal in respect of Shane O’Connor, 17 years, has been stood down,’ a spokesperson told the Irish Mirror.
Shane was the son of Sinead’s former partner, folk singer Donal Lunny, with the father and mother breaking up soon after Shane’s birth.
Shane was one of Sinead’s four children – Jake Reynolds, Roisin Waters and Yeshua Francis Neil Bonadio. The singer had previously been married four times, despite at one point in the late 90’s decrying herself as gay.
Sinead, who changed her name to Shuhada’ Davitt in 2018, after converting to Islam, also tweeted a Bob Marley song which she dedicated to Shane, heartbreakingly describing her son as her ‘blue-eye baby’ and the ‘light of my life’.
Troubled soul
Taking to social media after Shane went missing, Sinead threatened Tallaght Hospital with a lawsuit if ‘anything happens to my son’, alleging that her son went missing from the hospital while on suicide watch.
Tragically and perhaps ironically, the 17 year old’s suicide death follows his own mother’s struggles with mental health issues in the past years, in episodes in which the lauded 1980’s, ‘Nothing Compares to U’ singer had threatened to take her own life.
Said the singer famously: ‘I’m not a pop star. I’m just a troubled soul who needs to scream into a mic now and then. I don’t need to be number one.’
Adding, ‘I don’t need to be liked. I don’t need to be welcome at the AMAs [American Music Awards]’.
After going into a year long rehab for drug addiction in 2020, the singer publicly stated: ‘I grew up with a lot of trauma and abuse. I then went straight into the music business. And never learned really how to make a normal life. Never took proper time to heal. Wasn’t ready to either.’
In 2017, the troubled singer sparked alarm with a 12-minute video on her Facebook page (see below) in which she stated that she had wanted to kill herself for two years.
Authorities have yet to say what led to Shane O’Connor killing himself.
