Diver Indicted in 2003 GBR mishap

[Finno]

I've read the woman had completed 11 dives prior to the accident.

Suspicion is one thing. Evidence of guilt is another. I see lots of reason to believe that he performed poorly.

I salute your integrity, maintaining the 'innocent until proven guilty' creed. Truly, I respect that. I'm a much more pessimistic person I guess. I look at the mistakes he made, combined with witness statements, combined with his false statements, and it's painting a picture for me. It might be three quarters complete, but to me it's pointing towards foul play. Unfortunately, due to the nature of scuba diving & this particular occurrence, most of the crucial evidence doesn't exist, and he may be acquitted.

The only here-say in that list is him allegedly asking her to make him a beneficiary. I've searched, but I can't find the source of that report, only that it was mentioned at the inquest. The rest have been confirmed by witnesses at the inquest.

Google News Results for Tina Watson (Victim)

 

[phyrekat]

The doctor quoted in one post states that his arms were around her and hers were out to the side. I'm not sure about you, but if someone were face-to-face with me underwater & I couldn't get anything out of my reg, I'd sure be trying to get a reg or an octo from them if my arms were free.
Also, what did this witness do to help when he saw him release her limp body and she drifted downward? Sounds kinda odd to me that they wouldn't go and try to render assistance to an obviously distressed diver.
It was stated in one post that he was the last to ascend, but in one of the earlier posts (or perhaps a linked article) it was stated that the DM who effected the rescue had just seen the couple at the surface "seven minutes" earlier than Watson's reappearance at the surface calling for assistance. This would explain some of the "issues." He supposedly tried to rescue her at 15m, but she was found at 30m. He had trouble equalizing (initial descent). If the current was very strong, the descent would probably be where an inexperienced diver would have problems. While some of the statements are certainly disturbing (her winking at him, long ascent time), some of the others sound like hearsay or rumor (what is the source for his alleged request for her changing the beneficiary of her life insurance, and the $10 comment at her funeral?).
Is it possible that on the descent she began to stress (overbreathe), panicked and succumbed to the urge to spit her reg, inhaled a small amount of seawater and went into laryngospasm? If that were indeed the case, it wouldn't matter how much she then wanted to breathe her reg, she wasn't going to get anything out of it - and I would guess that her cause of death would be asphyxiation on autopsy. (Actually, didn't a woman in the Keys die of something very similar to this earlier this year?)
Is the guy guilty of murder or, as suggested earlier, mere douchebaggery? It's possible that he may have made inconsistent statements just to keep himself from looking bad. The three motives for murder are money, sex and revenge. It doesn't sound like money could have been much of a motive, so maybe they're looking for other things on his computers.

 

[z3r0c00l]

Haha first saw this story on the dread C-DNN...

Sad to say, but while diving is probably one of the best ways to kill someone. Very easy to make it look like an accident.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Man... This whole case is just bizarre.

If it's murder, not all murderers need a motive. If it's not murder, the media has basically held a kangaroo court. (No pun intended) Anyone remember the Duke University fiasco? The media blitz basically ruined four innocent young mens' lives, even to the point that once they were exonerated, they remained convicted in the national consciousness.

 

[BlueSun]

Keeping in mind that A Current Affair is a rather distasteful tabloid program to be taken with a pinch of salt... ACA ran a story a few days ago about Tina's murder. Nothing much new in there except for the bizarre video of her husband removing flowers from her grave and interviews with her parents. So sad. Incredible dive footage - ninemsn Video

 

[2Tours N Iraq`]

After reading all, yes ALL, of the posts in this thread I would like to add in my own 2 cents worth. A certification card does not make you qualified to perform a rescue. Additionally, what if the husband and wife were indeed hugging and the only thing the witnesses saw were the final moments of the hug when the wife let go but the husband didn't?

Does anyone know if this was their first dive of the day or was it a multi-dive day? IF (as this is merely speculation) it was a multi-dive day then the build up of nitrogen COULD have caused narcosis in the wife causing her to panic and hyperventilate and purge the CO2 from her system thus her natural reflex to take a breath would not be triggered and she go into deep water black out. When the body is taken to the surface, some of the excess nitrogen would be expelled from her body and "normal" levels of O2 and CO2 would be in her system from the 30 minutes of CPR performed on her.

Additionally, we do not know if their post dive activities of the day before included consuming alcohol or not properly rehydrating themselves for the upcoming dive day. This is a case where what the media is reporting does not have all of the facts nor does it appear the experts are releasing all of what they know or don't know.

Also, if the guy didn't want to be married anymore, why didn't they just seek an annulment seeing as how they were only married 10 days prior to the incident?

About 30 years ago my dad was diving a wreck in approximately 110' of water where a fellow diver was spear fishing for large goliath grouper. There were several divers on the trip and this diver's buddy surfaced but the said diver failed to do so. My dad was the only diver who had enough surface interval to go down and conduct a quick search but could not locate the diver. A year or so later all of the diver's equipment was found on the wreck, complete with the tank and regulators still attached to the wetsuit just as he had been wearing it but there was no body due to the sea creatures consuming his remains. The funny thing is even after all that time under water, there was still air in his tank and his regulator was still working.

The case just mentioned was obviously an accident but just because the reg is still in their mouth, mask is on, there is air in the tank, and there is no clear medical reason for death doesn't automatically make the incident murder. Again, just my 2 cents worth here.

 

[james croft]

It is an extremely suspicious death. I would be looking at him hard if I was investigating the case.

 

[DiverBizz]

This is a tragedy that we will most likely never hear the complete truth of what happened during the dive. Guilty or not 16 versions(if that is true) of what occurred does lead to investigators being suspicious.

 

[2Tours N Iraq`]

If I were a prosecutor, I would definitely look into it. I'm not sure we will ever know the truth of the matter, I was merely adding my thoughts/comments to encourage thought/discussion on the part of those participating in this forum.

As for myself, I've had barotrauma to my ears and if it were me in that situation, I believe I'd deal with the pain and do everything I could to save my wife! That being said, let us be slow to condemn a man when there is no trial scheduled to determine his guilt or lack there of.

 

[MikeFerrara]

As for myself, I've had barotrauma to my ears and if it were me in that situation, I believe I'd deal with the pain and do everything I could to save my wife!

Several people have said that in this thread. I'd like to see someone demonstrate a descent to say...40 ft without equalizing. You might have more than pain to deal with.