The hearing into the death of four-month-old Iona Guiney heard that she had been put to bed with her two-year-old sister Saffron and that their mother, Caoilshionn McCann, had joined them in the early hours of the morning of January 1, 2002.
Ms McCann's partner, Bill Guiney, a sound engineer, had been working late as it was New Year's Eve and had fallen asleep in the sitting room on his return home. When he went to the bedroom at around 6.15am he noticed Iona, who was lying between her mother and sister, was a grey colour and there was a little blood coming from her nose and mouth.
Despite attempts to resuscitate the infant she was later pronounced dead at hospital.
Ms McCann from Glenarm Square, Finaghy in south Belfast said that earlier she and her partner had celebrated the New Year. She had taken a couple of glasses of champagne, possibly two beers, a third of an Ecstasy tablet and had smoked some cannabis. Mr Guiney said he had taken the rest of the E-tab and had also been drinking and smoking.