The State Coroner’s Office this week confirmed it would investigate the sudden death of prominent Queensland jockey Stathi Katsidis, according to reports in The Chronicle.
Katsidis, 31, was found dead at his home in Hendra, on Brisbane’s northside, on October 19 last year, just two weeks before having his first ride in the Melbourne Cup on Shoot Out.
Katsidis’ fiancee Melissa Jackson found him dead on the lounge room floor where he had fallen asleep after returning home from a night out drinking with friends.
Preliminary police investigations found there was no suggestion of suicide or foul play. Under the Coroner’s Act, the state coroner can investigate unusual deaths and then decide whether a full inquest is necessary.
A spokesperson for the State Coroner’s Office told The Chronicle Katsidis’s death had been the referred to them but no decision had been made on an inquest.
A decision was unlikely until later this year.
A spokesperson for the Queensland Police Service said toxicology results on samples taken from Katsidis’s body would be included in the report to the coroner. However, the results had not been made public.
