Man fell to his death on jagged rocks as he tried to retrieve football, inquest hears

A verdict of accidental death was recorded by the West Cork Coroner in the case of a man who fell on jagged rocks when he was trying to retrieve a football for his son during a family break on the island of Cape Clear. The inquest held at Clonakilty Court House heard that David Latten, 44 of Templebryan South, Clonakilty was on a family break with his wife Neasa O’Keeffe and their three young children when the accident occurred.

In a statement read to the inquest, Ms O’Keeffe said that Mr Latten was playing football with one of their sons at the Chléire Haven campsite on the island when the ball was kicked over a fence at the edge of an area of cliffs near the campsite. Ms O’Keeffe said that she was charging her phone in the communal yurt in the campsite at around 5pm when her husband told her he was going to retrieve the football.

The family had planned to go for pizzas by the pier soon afterwards and when Mr Latten failed to return Ms O’Keeffe decided to go to the pier with the children expecting to meet him there. She said that when there was no sign of him she became worried and returned to the campsite but he had not been seen there either.

Ms O’Keeffe told campsite manager Finbarr Hennessy that she could not find her husband and he took her by car to look for him at the pier again but there was no sign of Mr Latten. She also went to look for him on a nearby beach but the people there said they had been there for 40 minutes and had not seen Mr Latten either.

Ms O’Keeffe said that at this point she was becoming very concerned and decided to call the emergency services. The local Coast Guard and Baltimore RNLI began to search for Mr Latten as did local search and rescue volunteer John Kearney who was on Cape Clear Island at the time. In a statement read to the inquest Mr Kearney said that he was searching around the South Harbour area close to where Mr Latten was last seen when he discovered a man’s body face down in the water at about 8.10pm. The body was brought ashore and identified as Mr Latten and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Coroner Frank O’Connell said that an autopsy carried out by Dr Abdel Sadek at Cork University Hospital confirmed that Mr Latten had fallen on his left side onto jagged rocks. He had suffered a laceration to the left side of his head, a fractured skull and a severe laceration to his left kidney. The autopsy concluded that the cause of death was a traumatic head injury and haemorrhage.

The coroner returned a verdict of accidental death as a result of falling onto the rocks at the sea shore on Cape Clear Island and he offered his sympathies to the Latten and O’Keeffe families who had attended the inquest. He said that Mr Latten was probably unconscious immediately after he fell and that it was a very unlucky occurrence that had very sad and tragic consequences for the families. Inspector Roisín O’Dea also offered her sympathies to the families on behalf of An Garda Síochána.

Mr Latten’s father-in-law, former Cork South West TD Jim O’Keeffe told the inquest that the families were extremely grateful for all the help and support they had received. He thanked the coroner for his kindness and also thanked all those who had helped in the search for Mr Latten and the people of Cape Clear. An emotional Mr O’Keeffe said that the support was particularly appreciated by his daughter Neasa and her three sons.