28th May 1906

Father commits suicide by slashing his own throat

John Moignard was determined to kill himself. He first drank a bottle of ammonia and, when the pain that caused became too great, he slashed his throat with a razor blade. It wouldn’t have been difficult for him to source the weapon: Moignard was a well-known barber working in St Helier.

In his mid-seventies at the time of his death, Moignard left a suicide note that detailed the pressure he was under. By then living with his fourth wife, and being the father of 32 children, he was still working when he should have been enjoying his retirement. He cursed his two brothers for not helping support him and his family and explained how worried he was that if anything should happen to him, his wife and children wouldn’t be able to support themselves.

How they were to support themselves following his suicide, he seemingly hadn’t considered.