A coroner in the United Kingdom, Penelope Schofield, has ruled that three British-Nigerian sisters who drowned off Brighton beach on May 13 took their own lives.
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Schofield, a senior coroner for West Sussex, Brighton and Hove, said Jane Adetoro, 36; Christina Walters, 32; and Rebecca Walters, 31, committed suicide at the beach.
In a report by BBC on Thursday, Schofield said at an inquest that the women encountered adverse sea conditions when they entered the water and could not swim.
Before they travelled to Brighton, the sisters had lived together in Greenford, London, and visited an area in Birmingham close to where their mother had drowned in 2010 on May 11.
They left their residence in London and arrived in Brighton together by taxi at 10:21pm BST on 12 May. They were last seen alive at 02:42am on 13 May.
Their father, Joseph Jacobsen, followed the proceedings of the inquest through a video link on Thursday, at Woodvale Coroner’s Court in Brighton.
In an emotional statement read out on his behalf, Jacobsen said he watched his daughters grow from little girls to beautiful, intelligent women.
“There are no words that can adequately express the pain of losing a child. To lose all three of my precious daughters is heartbreaking,” he said.
At the hearing, the coroner told the court, “These three sisters lived very secluded lives; they were incredibly private. We don’t know why they took this course of action or indeed why they chose to do it in Brighton. It is not for the court to speculate and sadly these reasons may never be known.”
In a GoFundMe raised for the sisters in June, Jacobsen’s brother, Adesoji Adetoro, said, “The girls had so much life ahead of them, and their loss has left a pain and emptiness in our hearts that words cannot describe.”
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