An Algerian man was killed when he fell from cliffs at Howth while jumping a crevice to his favourite fishing spot, an inquest has heard.
Kamel Moali (51), a father-of-one from St Lawrence’s Quay in Howth, north county Dublin was tragically killed when he fell from Balscadden cliffs on September 6 last year.
Dublin Coroner's Court heard that Mr Moali went to the cliffs almost every day to fish after collecting his daughter from school.
The alarm was raised by another fisherman Peter Faraoulu who told the inquest that he set up his fishing lines on the cliffs at about 5pm. It was windy and the lines were blowing to the right, he said. He noticed a jacket floating in the water in the crevice.
“The waves were big. When the wave died I could see some gear, a yellow basket. I recognised the basket as belonging to Kamel. Then the waves came again and the body flopped over and I could see the man’s face. It was him,” he said, “I could see some blood on the left of his nose. He was unconscious and he was like a puppet being tossed by the waves”.
Mr Faraoulu rang the emergency services and waited for gardaí to arrive. The body began to float out to sea and was then pulled under by the waves.
The search for Mr Moali was unsuccessful on the night he went into the water. The body was recovered the following afternoon when Garda Gerry McGroarty, a diver with the garda underwater unit, found him “wrapped up in the straps” of a fishing tackle bag.
At post-mortem, a cut was found on his left scalp. There was no evidence of a skull fracture but there was bleeding on the brain. The cause of death was drowning due to a head injury.
Garda Robert Rawl said it was “standard practice” for Mr Moali to jump over the crevice to get to his favourite fishing spot and that he did this most days. The crevice is about a metre wide and there is cliff face below. “It is possible that he did bang his head on the way down,” he said.
The dead man's brother-in-law Ali Boutiche told the inquest that, two weeks before he died, Mr Moali fell into the water having slipped while trying to jump across the crevice. On that occasion the weather was good and he was able to climb out of the water unhurt. He saw Mr Moali just before he left to go fishing and he was in good humour.
“Kamel was always happy and always smiling. He was no different that day,” he said, “I firmly believe it was a tragic accident”.
Deputy coroner Maria Colbert returned a verdict of accidental death.