Diver Indicted in 2003 GBR mishap

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

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?

I don't know why people kill people, but they do all the time. Murder often doesn't make sense. They just caught this guy not too far from me that has been running around for a couple of years killing hikers, young women, older women, an elderly couple, and who knows how many others.

I would think if this guy really loved this woman he would have died trying. Like the guy that was posted about a couple of weeks ago that got separted from his girlfriend on a wreck dive. She had a single tank and got lost in the silt, he burned through his doubles and stage gas it seems trying to find her.

Why didn't Drew Peterson just let his wife Stacy have a divorce? Now they think he is not only a suspect in her case, but also one of his other wives and yet another ex wife'w boyfriend.

Maybe diver hubby didn't want a divorce, but new wifey did?? Maybe he thought I will keep you from leaving me and making me look bad???

I don't know, but there is a lot of diver hubby ought to be called to account for.

I sure wouldn't want to be his buddy!!

 

[2Tours N Iraq`]

I definitely wouldn't want to be his buddy either!

 

[seaducer]

Hmmm, I read through this whole thread, and there are a few points missing. Alot has been said about whether or not the husband deserved his rescue certification. I suppose this is fair enough given that a student can go from class to class. But what if he was an acomplised diver who had actually assisted in rescues in the past? I am sure people would hook him up to the chair without second thought. However anecdotal, I have other ideas still. My father was a volunteer on his local first aid squad for 30 years, and had saved 100's of lives. I saw him in action when a kid on a bike got smashed by a car, and it was inspiring. As long as it wasn't my brother or me. Then he forgot all his training. He...wait for it...panicked. When the victim is someone you love, you have no idea how you will react.

As far as his differing stories are concerned? The least reliable evidence is an eye witness, and to be honest in the heat of the moment he may not have a clue what really happened. I certainly doubt he was taking notes. The trauma could easily cause him to mis-remember events. Perhaps he is embelishing to make himself feel better about screwing up the rescue, or he is getting different dives or parts of that last dive confused. Come on! this was undoubtedly the most traumatic experience of his life! Do you honestly expect to have perfect total recall after such an event? I don't.

He doesn't want to go back to Oz? Would you? For more than one, starting with the fact that going back to the scene might be a horrible experience. On top of that would people be waiting for him outside the courthouse? Here in America there would be protests if the case was in the news enough.

Might he be guilty? Sure. But I haven't seen anything that says he is. That bear hug could have been anything, such as he was trying to surface her. Failing at that he started for the surface. Why was he so slow? I don't have an answer for that, but it doesn't mean he is guilty.

He certainly has done some suspicious things, but I think all of them can be explained away by the situation. We all hope that we react well in an emergency, and even more so hope that we won't panic if the person in need is a loved one. Bottom line though is no one who hasn't been there knows what they will do, and many, many trained and proven professionals fail when it is their child or spouse is in need. Why expect more from this poor sap?

 

[easyrider003]

"It is hard to tell from the details given in this case, but I don’t think it is fair to assume because he has rescue diver certification that this automatically means that he will act in accordance with that training. How long has he been certified? Was this the first time his training had been tested?" QUOTED

It shouldn't matter how long he had been certified as a rescue dive and also if it was his first time. I am now a rescue diver but I know for a fact that if I saw someone in trouble, especially someone in the shape she was in, I would bring them to the surface. You don't have to have training to realize someone is in trouble and how to get them up........Just get them up

 

[BWDscott]

I told my wife she doesn't need to worry about me leaving her... in fact... I think I'll take her on a cruise.... hmmmmmm

 

[BlueSun]

Just a small update on the coronial inquest into Tina Watson's death. The coroner adjourned proceedings last Friday to consider evidence and will give his ruling on April 23rd or 24th. It's also possible that Gabe Watson will be extradited to Australia to face charges. Here's hoping the Coroner gets to the bottom of the matter and Tina's family can have some closure on this tragic event.
Husband may face charges over fatal dive | The Courier-Mail

 

[jaycanwk]

I agree that there are some suspisous inconsistancies on the part of the husband but, I agree with MikeFerrara to a large extent how this might have actually played out.

To put it more clearly, there are some serious assumptions being made by the Media, Ploice, and otheres involved in this case as to what exactly being "rescue certified" actally means and what would be an appropriate response according to "standards" and what actually happens in real life. To have an expert witness at the inquiry state that he didn't follow protocol/standards is not very helpful in that that is usually how the custer****** begins is it not?? A poorly trained diver, and there seems to be alot of poorly trained divers around these days, don't follow protocol because, well, they wern't really trained properly to begin with, and the dive starts to go south, sometimes tragically.
I wonder if someday one or all the certifying agencies might take the lead and acknowledge that maybe there standards might in part contribute just a tiny bit to some of these tragedies.

 

[K_girl]

The Austrailian government will be looking for husband's inconsistent statements. For instance, if the government has witnesses that say the husband was in a bear-hug with his wife, did the husband ever mention it himself when initially questioned or to anyone else? Problem is, he claimed he could not go after his wife because of an ear problem, he can't turn around and admit he was in a bear-hug with her. The obvious question would have been - why didn't he bring her up? Especially if he never mentioned the "bear-hug" to any others on the boat after the dive. I don't think he is going to admit to the bear-hug. If they have witnesses to the bear-hug, especially multiple witnesses and they are solid on the identification, the government could have an excellent case. The husband also said that the current took her away - it didn't, she was in plain sight in the photograph taken by a friend of a diver doing a safety stop, probably right near the boat. It looks apparent that dive master jumped in and had a bee-line right to her. That photo says a LOT!

I don't see he rescue standards as the meat of this case - it will be the husband's inconsistent statements. Trauma and panic is one thing, lying is another and it will be necessary to try and sort these out in a reasonable manner if the evidence is there. If it turns out the "bear-hug" witnesses are solid, his ommission and/or denial of being in a bear-hug with his wife - I would qualify as a lie, not traumatic panic. Stating that there was a current when there wasn't - that's a lie, not traumatic panic. Stating that he could no longer see her when she was in plain sight in good visibility, well, maybe. I've lost my buddy for short periods of time in good visibility, but usually not for long. I could see traumatic panic causing this kind of disorientation. For him to be innocent, you would have to say that he decided to make-up the current story to cover his guilt. In a trial however, jurors don't like liars and this will hurt him. I can see a prosecutor questioning him heavily on this point and about the photograph and asking him - why did he say that she was taken away by the current when it is clear she was in plain sight?

 

[james croft]

I"ve been wrong before. I thought that security guard at the Atlanta Bombings, did it but he was cleared. Was his name Jewel? Anyhow, probably just being a cop for the past 28 years and a diver for 40 make me feel this is foul play. But I have been wrong before...

But I betchya he gets charged.

 

[Opossum]

About the drift diving incident at the Great Barrier Reef? I have my doubts about his story just like other divers...

My wife and I were watching it. I am certified, and she was almost certified before she decided that she wasn't ready for the big dive. We were both watching the show with our jaws dropped. None of it made sense.


Here is a link...

Mystery in the deep blue sea - Crime reports - MSNBC.com

This was the only place where I thought this should be posted.