The death of a 41-year-old man who died while felling a tree in Portrane, Co. Dublin, has been described as an “unspeakable tragedy” at an inquest.

Dublin District Coroner’s Court heard on Monday that William Kenny, who felled trees for more than 20 years, died almost instantly on February 11, 2023.

Brendan McGahern, who felled the tree with Kenny on the day of his death, said the pair had been felling and cutting down trees alongside their day jobs in construction and the planned operation was a “model solution”.

The investigation examined how the men had adequately planned the controlled fall of a pine tree, which McGahern described as “a piece of cake.”

They had removed the weight from one side of the tree so that it would fall away from the customer’s house.

Despite cutting a wedge out of the back of the tree and then hammering plastic wedges into it to try to force the tree to fall, the tree did not move, McGahern said.

“The behavior was unprecedented. I have never seen a tree behave like that in my life,” he said.

“Then we heard a crack as it moved, it was a sharp crack. It didn’t fall into the wedge, it came straight down from the stump. We both ran, I ran to the left and William ran towards the house.”

Mr McGahern said he fell after being hit by part of the falling tree, but he was back on his feet within seconds. He then saw Mr Kenny “trapped” under the tree trunk, which was about 1m wide.

Although emergency services arrived, Mr Kenny was pronounced dead at the scene.

“We’ve done this same thing many times,” Mr McGahern said, adding that the weather was ideal and they had all the necessary equipment on hand. “It wasn’t our first rodeo.”

In a written statement, Garda Aidan Barry, of Santry Garda Station, said it appeared the large tree had slipped from the stump, spun around and fallen backwards. “There were no obvious obstructions to prevent his escape. The speed and weight of the falling tree cost Mr Kenny his life,” he said.

An autopsy revealed that Mr Kenny died as a result of blunt force trauma.

Coroner Dr Clare Keane told family members that his death was almost “instantaneous” before returning a verdict of “accidental death.”

“An indescribable tragedy for a task that has so often been accomplished in seemingly perfect weather conditions,” she said.