Diver Indicted in 2003 GBR mishap

[Desert Pirate]

I just started following this story, and am not even sure were the diver in questions was certified. but SSI doesnt have a Prerequisit for number of dives before taking the rescue class. so what I can understand is that a Rescue diver could be someone who has a minimum of 7 dives... all training dives under observation of an instructor. I try to convince our students to go get a handfull of dives before taking the course, because if they are busy messing with their bouyancy they wont get much from the class anyhow. Advanced Open Water can be obtained by completing a minimum of 24 dives and 4 specialty classes which could bring the divers numbers up to 13 dives in training under obsdervation and 11 dives on their own. none of these specialties must be Diver Stress and Rescue however. So by Agency Standards, neither Advanced Open Water, or Rescue Diver cards will make any one a truely competent Diver.
Just my opinion of course... and assuming this diver was certified by SSI, are the requirements far apart from other agencies? I am just curious
Clay

 

[MikeFerrara]

So by Agency Standards, neither Advanced Open Water, or Rescue Diver cards will make any one a truely competent Diver.

I think some of us here are on the same page but from what little information is available on this accident it sounds like the family of that poor girl and maby some members of law inforcement (certainly thye media) is going on some false assumptions.

Maybe one risk of having such artificially lofty sounding certifications that don't really correlate well to actual skill level?

 

[lamont]

I'm a Rescue Diver living in Townsville, Queensland. I've dived the Yongala a number of times...

The word around town is that Mr Watson was seen by a witness from a different boat (Jazz III) holding Mrs Watson in a bear hug with her face close to his chest for several minutes. It has been asserted that Mr Watson had turned off Mrs Watson's air and held her close to prevent her from spitting her reg out. It is alleged Mr Watson had not realised there were divers from another boat on the wreck, and he did not realise they could see him (vis was only about 12 metres).

The DM that rescued Mrs Watson said that her mask and regulator were still in place, and if she had simply passed out, she would still be breathing. An autopsy revealed no obstruction in her airways and only very little water was found on her lungs.

In the Townsville Bulletin today, an article reporting on the inquest has stated that there have been a number of inconsistencies with regard to Mr Watson's claim he could not go down to rescue his wife because he was having severe barotrauma. However, two separate medical assessments by a Townsivlle Doctor and a New Zealand doctor suggests his ear trauma was no more than mild. Also he has changed his story several times about Mrs Watson knocking his mask off and regulator out of his mouth as she was "swept away".

I must say I am hesitant to give this man the assumption of innocence until proven guilty.... I know if my husband were to suffer any trouble under water, I would certainly put myself in severe danger before I would just let him sink away from me.

Well, if she jumped in with her first stage only 1/4 turn on it could have quit on her on the descent which would have caused her to not be able to inflate her BC and would have caused asphyxiation and drowning ultimately. That is also just as consistent with the medical facts as her husband drowning her.

And the lying may have been to try to cover up the fact that he let his wife die rather than blow out his eardrums trying to save her...

 

[lamont]

Another possibility is that she had a gas emergency (either OOA or reg turned off / mostly off) and she tried to swim to the surface, but the husband tried to arrest her ascent to prevent her getting bent -- which would mean that he killed her, but it was a mistake...

 

[Tigerman]

Wether or not this WAS an accident or a murder case, there is one thing that will separate this incident from many other incidents.. There will be some sort of a conclusion made and her housband will be found either responsible or not for whatever happened.

The conclusion MIGHT be wrong, of course, but it seems to me it will have been more thoroughly investigated than most of the other incidents we read about here..

 

[vladimir]

Might this site have been a little much for a new diver?

I have dived the Yongala 4 times, on two days about a year apart. In the conditions we had, it was an intermediate to advanced dive, with strong currents.

 

[K_girl]

I would say the most potential damaging evidence will be the statements of the husband, especially if they are inconsistent. Potential inconsistencies for further inquiry that investigators could ask the husband:

1) It was said that he claimed he had ear problems and could not go down after her. Did the situation happen after they had already reached the deepest part of the dive? Usually if someone is having ear problems and cannot equalize, the most painful part of the descent is within the first 30 feet of the dive and would have to abort the dive. Essentially, it would be difficult to do the dive at all. If he claims they reached the wreck - how deep was it? And if it is below 30 feet, how could he claim ear problems? Has anyone ever experienced ear problems bouncing back and forth between depths after you have already successfully equalized?

2) It is claimed he stated that she drifted away in the current. How can that possibly be? There is a picture of her, clearly within view on the bottom while a diver is performing a safety stop. Apparently, the rescue diver sent in to find her had no trouble in locating her.

3) It is said that he claimed there were strong currents. The bubbles in front of the diver on the safety stop in the picture does not indicate a strong current.

4) It is said that he claims that she panicked and to illustrate her panicked state, he said she took off her mask and regulator. Other reports state that she had her regulator in her mouth and her mask on her face. This is certainly inconsistent.

5) My sister said she had a panic attack in strong currents once. The overexertion was causing her to overbreathe her reg and she felt like she could not breathe. She said she actually took reg out of her mouth to breathe, and just barely stopped herself. If the woman was panicking due to overexertion, she probably would have taken the reg out of her mouth to breathe and would have drowned, not asphyxiated. She was doing what she knew she had to do right up to the last breath of non-existent air. This indicates to me that, in spite of whatever was going on, she had enough control to keep the reg in her mouth - or... someone did it for her.

If you were investigating this case - what questions would you ask and what would the answers mean?

 

[Dadvocate]

Let’s face it. Tigerman’s right. We can’t really know the outcome given the facts we do have. A serious mistake could be made either way.

Well, if she jumped in with her first stage only 1/4 turn on it could have quit on her on the descent which would have caused her to not be able to inflate her BC and would have caused asphyxiation and drowning ultimately. That is also just as consistent with the medical facts as her husband drowning her.

And the lying may have been to try to cover up the fact that he let his wife die rather than blow out his eardrums trying to save her...

This is the point. The onus of proof needs to be able to transcend these possibilities. I think it is fair to ask the witnesses why they didn’t react if they knew what they were seeing. It is possible that the memory of what they saw is clouded but what they now know happened after the fact; a woman died and her husband is suspected of killing her. Memory is a fickle thing in such cases, and three year’s time isn’t going to help all that much.

It seems amazing to me that a case like this would take the better part of three plus years to play out, especially given the nature of diving and murder. If the evidence is so culpable in nature why has it taken so long for things to come to this? The onus of proof gets exacerbated quite a lot when this much time passes. The only real benefit to a wait of this duration would be to have a smoking gun dug up somewhere that conclusively nails this guy for murder. It seems that the police are desperate. Any reasonable jury will find him innocent unless they can do away with all the other potential possibilities for why this poor woman died.

By having this raid in his home now in the surprise fashion they did is indicative of a crap shoot, perhaps hoping a guilty conscience is recording troubled thoughts on a hard drive. The hard evidence, if indeed there is any, would be long gone by now, perhaps dumped in Australia, perhaps done away with in the three year’s time he had. Maybe he slipped up afterwards and the police hope he incriminates himself.

Cheers!

 

[K_girl]

Oh - most importantly!

6) how in the world can someone asphyxiate with plenty of air in the tank that is turned on? That in itself makes absolutely no sense unless there is something wrong with the reg. I'm sure the equipment was examined and is the strongest piece of evidence. An investigator might think that the air was turned off and later turned on again and that if the husband did it, he did a very poor job in preparing for the murder. You would have to think that the husband thought that his attack on his wife would invoke a heart attack, since so many scuba-diving deaths are cardio-related. Overexertion - leads to panic - leads to heart attack - leads to drowning. This explains everything that the husband is trying to assert. The only flaw for the husband's plan - there was no heart attack or similar medical event.

This is all certainly conjecture on my part, I am only thinking in terms of how a theory of prosecution of this case could potentially develop. I have no personal knowledge of the facts. Let's say, however, the husband told some friends in an e-mail or some other form of communication that he thought she had a heart attack before the autopsy was completed - wouldn't that be interesting?

 

[almitywife]

....how in the world can someone asphyxiate with plenty of air in the tank that is turned on? .......

as someone that has experienced a near panic at depth, let me tell you it can and does happen

cheers