SYDNEY, Australia - The death of Australian rock star Michael
Hutchence in a Sydney hotel room in November was declared a suicide
Friday.
Hutchence, 37, the lead singer of the rock group INXS, was found dead
at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel at Double Bay in east Sydney on Nov. 22, 1997.
He was in a "severe depressed state" due
to his relationship with girlfriend Paula
Yates, her custody dispute with her former
husband Sir Bob Geldof, and the effects of
substances he had ingested, New South
Wales Coroner Derek Hand said Friday.
Hutchence hanged himself with his belt and
the buckle broke away, leaving his naked
body kneeling on the floor of the hotel
room, Hand said.
The coroner said there was no evidence to substantiate the suggestion
the singer died as a result of an act of auto-eroticism. He also said there
was no other person involved in the death.
Hand said Hutchence had consumed vodka, beer and champagne the
night before and blood analysis detected cocaine, the anti-depressant
Prozac and other prescription drugs.
Hand said there would be no inquest into the death.
Michael Hutchence's father, Kelland, is publicly accusing rocker Bob
Geldof of playing a part in his son's death last month.
In an interview on Australian TV, also reported in British tabloid The
Sun on Thursday, the retired businessman said Geldof was out to get
his son, the 37-year-old INXS star, and his partner, Paula Yates,
formerly married to Geldof.
"He made their lives miserable. It's like he was on a vendetta . . . I
think
contributed very much to what happened," the father said.
Geldof had refused to allow his daughters with Yates to travel with her
to Australia for an INXS tour. The elder Hutchence confirmed that
Michael had an argument over the phone with Geldof in England just
hours before he was found hanged. Geldof and Yates had been in a
custody battle over their three daughters.
Kelland also called "rubbish" any suggestions that his son's death was
a
result of sexual misadventure but admitted his son's propensity for the
wild: "He was a bit in excess himself, you know," he said. Kelland
stated he believes his son's death was "some kind of accident." A
coroner's report is due in February.
Meanwhile, members of INXS have issued two statements: The first
warns friends and colleagues of the band that no INXS books have
been authorized. The second reiterates that INXS is not auditioning for
a new singer and has no plans for any touring or recording.
©COPYRIGHT 1997 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
An airline spokeswoman in Sydney
confirmed Yates was involved in a
incident in an airport lounge in Bangkok
during a brief stopover, and some
disturbances on board during the flight.
She refused to comment further.
Britain's Daily Express newspaper
reported Yates had told other
passengers that her former husband
and father of her three other children,
British singer and charity organizer Sir
Bob Geldof, was responsible for Hutchence's death.
"Bob Geldof murdered Michael Hutchence," the Daily Express
quoted Yates as saying. "That bastard killed Michael. He is called
Saint Bob. That makes me sick. He killed my baby. We have had
three years of this."
©COPYRIGHT 1997 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
1.11 p.m. ET (1812 GMT) March 29, 1998
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — Paula Yates said Sunday
she refused to
accept a coroner's ruling that her partner, rock
star Michael
Hutchence, committed suicide and was seeking legal
advice to have
it overturned.
New South Wales Coroner Derek Hand ruled that Hutchence,
the
37-year-old lead singer of INXS, had committed
suicide Nov. 22 by
hanging himself in his Sydney hotel room.
"In no way do I accept the coroner's verdict of
suicide,'' Yates told
Channel 9 TV.
"I will be making it abundantly clear that because
of information
that I and only I could know about Michael ...
I cannot accept the
verdict.
"And I won't have my child grow up thinking that
her father left
her, not knowing the way he loved her.''
The coroner ruled in February that Hutchence was
in a "severe
depressed state'' due to his relationship with
Yates and her custody
dispute with her former husband Bob Geldof, combined
with the
effects of alcohol and prescription drugs.
Yates had three children with Geldoff in addition
to her daughter
with Hutchence.
Yates said Hutchence thought suicide was the most
cowardly act in
the world.
"I just don't think he killed himself, I really
don't,'' she said.
© 1998 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
© 1998, News America Digital Publishing, Inc. d/b/a Fox News Online.
All rights reserved. Fox News is a registered trademark of 20th Century
Fox Film Corp.
comments@foxnews.com