An Australian "daredevil" holidaying in Ireland fell from a four-storey balcony on to concrete when he may have been trying to jump into an artificial lake, an inquest has heard.
Jason Henry Budgen (29), from Queensland, was described by his father as a "Crocodile Dundee-type character". Mr Budgen was on the eve of his return home to Australia when he fell from a friend's apartment balcony in Custom House Harbour, IFSC, Dublin.
Mr Budgen had been having a cigarette on the balcony with his Irish friends, Lisa and Colleen Moyles. The women had gone back indoors when witnesses inside the apartment and a passerby outside saw Mr Budgen climb over the balcony railings and then jump from the ledge.
He landed near the 30ft-deep artificial lake and died almost immediately from head and neck injuries on September 4th, 2005.
"I believe he was trying to jump into the water as an adrenaline rush. I have no reason to think anything else," Lisa Moyles told the court.
Colleen Moyles, his former girlfriend, said when they first met in Australia, Mr Budgen was "fearless" and had told her of similar stunts he had done in the past.
"I don't think he saw the concrete. He was a daredevil and a bit of a showman," she said. In Queensland, Mr Budgen ran a cattle-mustering company.
The court heard that Mr Budgen had told friends he felt "confused" about returning home to Australia and was slightly out of sorts the night before his departure. Coroner Dr Brian Farrell recorded an open verdict and said what happened was possibly "a prank gone tragically wrong". He added that he could not rule out the possibility of suicide but that there was not sufficient evidence to prove that this was the case.
Mr Budgen's father, Graham, had travelled from Australia to attend the inquest.