Mother saw freak wave kill husband and daughter
A FATHER and his two-year-old daughter were swept to their deaths by a freak wave in front of their family as they fished from rocks on holiday, an inquest heard yesterday.
Rudy Bruynius and little McKayla – who was still in her pram – were washed into the sea with his wife Lisinda when the swell dramatically doubled to 8ft.
Their sons Damian, six, and Tyrone, ten, who had been told to go higher on the rocks, survived and watched the horror in Newquay, Cornwall, in August last year.
After a major RNLI rescue operation lasting ten minutes, Mr Bruynius, 33, was pulled from the sea but was later pronounced dead. McKayla was also rescued but died in hospital four days later.
Mrs Bruynius, 38, from Morden, Surrey, had only minor injuries. She was too upset to attend the inquest in Truro. In a state- ment she said that Mr Bruynius, a landscape gardener from South Africa, was ‘a loving husband and a wonderful father’.
She added: ‘He leaves a void which can never be filled. He was our everything. We love and miss him so much.
‘McKayla, our beautiful baby girl, is forever in my heart and the pain that myself and the boys feel at losing them both is indescribable. The last eight months have been extremely difficult. I hope and pray others can learn from this tragedy.’
Detective Constable Jarrod Yewen, who led the investigation, said: ‘No one could have foreseen the effects of the weather conditions. It changed so dramatically.’
Coroner Emma Carlyon said: ‘All evidence suggests this was a tragic accident. Both had been washed into the sea when the weather conditions changed dramatically.’ She recorded verdicts of accidental death.