Diver Indicted in 2003 GBR mishap

[lamont]

On my first recovery dive, I had tons of adrenaline and nerves making prepare for my dive difficult. I threw my gear togather, turned on my air all the way, then back a turn. jumped into the sherrifs boat, and headed for my search area... On the way out I dbl checked my air, in doin so I turned OFF my air and back on a 1/4, yes lefty loosy righty tighty.. I know but S**T happens while other things are playing on your mind. I will tell you that a 1/4 turn with 2800 lbs in my al 80 your reg can and will stop breathing between 25 and 30 ft. it would be interesting to know if the air was turned all the way on.
Clay

On around my 20th dive, someone on the boat gave me a 1/4 turn on and it breathed fine at the surface, i could inflate my wing, and didn't notice anything wrong, but at 60 fsw it basically quit on me and i went OOA on another diver.

 

[almitywife]

Originally Posted by K_girl
Too often, autopsies are not performed in scuba-related deaths. Having more knowledge and experience could potentially help in a case like this.

Guess that depends where you are in the world. In lots of places post-mortum examinations are mandatory for all unexpected deaths which includes 100% of scuba fatalities.

but im guessing in most cases, the coroner would find death by drowning and unless there is some obvious forms of trauma (bruises/scratches ect) there would be little indication of murder

on my local forum i report all the scuba related news - most deaths are met with sadness and the diver is laid to rest as a drowning (due to heart attack contributed/gear fault/training fault/panic ect).

i usually only see something come of it via the coroner if the family kicks up a stink to give it extra attention (as in this case) or if a business can be blamed in any way (unsafe procedures/lack of cert for dive ect)

cheers

 

[String]

b
i usually only see something come of it via the coroner if the family kicks up a stink to give it extra attention (as in this case) or if a business can be blamed in any way (unsafe procedures/lack of cert for dive ect)

cheers

Different to here then - here all unexpected deaths (ie basically any person that dies who isn't suffering a known illness and dies from that same illness) is post-mortum'd and a Coroner's Inquest is opened.

The coroner takes the PM results and other things to establish the cause (from pathology) and type (Accidental, mis-adventure,unlawful killing etc).

Its true most Scuba deaths are "death by drowning" though - even a full post mortum is unlikely to reveal a lot else but the body still has exactly the same examination, chemical/poison screens etc.

Under UK law at least any unexpected death is treated as a crime and the location a crime scene until its proven not to be so in the case of SCUBA, equipment is seized, statements taken, the scene preserved (as best as possible in water) and so on.

 

[Finno]

I'm a Rescue diver in Brisbane, Queensland, and I've been following the Inquest on the local news. QLD does indeed have the tightest regulations on scuba, and all inquests of this nature are very comprehensive, hence the 4 year delay. Most of the suspicious inconsistencies with this case have been mentioned previously, but I will add some details the investigation has announced to the Inquest:

• This was their honeymoon trip. The woman's greatest asset was her old car, and her life insurance policy, $30k worth, was known to be paid out to her father. Police are struggling to find a motive.
• The husband refused to come to Australia for the Inquest, the woman's parents are here and are present every day at the Inquest. This is despite the offer of free meals, accommodation and flights.
• No evidence pointing to faulty equipment was found, the woman's equipment was in perfect working order.
• I've read that her air was found turned on, even though she had asphyxiated.
• The man took 2 minutes to surface from 40', whereupon he started screaming for help, saying 'I've lost my wife'.
• The rescue diver took 1 and a half minutes to descend and return the body to the surface. As mentioned previously, the bottom can get to 80'
• Her mask & reg were in place
• Witnesses saw him give her a bear hug prior to the accident
• The other inconsistencies (ie current) have been mentioned previously.

By no means am I an expert, but if it was murder, I'm assuming he's given her a bear hug, switched her tank valve off and held her tight in a bear hug while she struggled as she asphyxiated. He's then switched her tank valve on, then started ascending to the surface to call for help, albeit ascending slowly so as to further decrease the opportunity for resuscitation.

What I don't get is the motive. Money is no motive, and they just got married....

 

[almitywife]

.......in Brisbane, Queensland,,....

hi and welcome to SB!! good to see more aussies here as they talk funny around here

what i find ironic is the obsession with "he was a trained rescue diver"

a huge majority of divers diss the certification process and card collection but cant seem quick enough to jump into bed with the media on the fact he was a 'trained rescue diver'

any vaccay diver with 50 dives can be a certified rescue diver... doesnt mean he/she can cope with the emergency situation of saving my life

im still sitting on the fence with this guy... just handing out some silt to muddy the waters on the topic

cheers

 

[Tigerman]

hi and welcome to SB!! good to see more aussies here as they talk funny around here

what i find ironic is the obsession with "he was a trained rescue diver"

a huge majority of divers diss the certification process and card collection but cant seem quick enough to jump into bed with the media on the fact he was a 'trained rescue diver'

any vaccay diver with 50 dives can be a certified rescue diver... doesnt mean he/she can cope with the emergency situation of saving my life

im still sitting on the fence with this guy... just handing out some silt to muddy the waters on the topic

cheers

Kinda the same with a few other threads on this board lately..
One minute people diss the AOW course or the deep diver specialty, the next they go screaming about how you shouldnt do deep dives without training.
Sure, some of the courses should improved, but at the same dissing the available training and calling it useless in one minute and screaming about people not having the training the next is kinda backwards..

 

[lamont]

This was their honeymoon trip. The woman's greatest asset was her old car, and her life insurance policy, $30k worth, was known to be paid out to her father. Police are struggling to find a motive.

It really sounds like the guy was an inexperienced, overly-certified diver who might be a freaked out lying douchebag at worst. A lot of people seem to be happy to convict him for murder on the basis of some douchebaggery. That isn't actually a legal standard for conviction, though, although it does make excellent fodder for Nancy Grace on CNN...

Also, if he tried to keep her from making a rapid ascent and was paranoid about rapid ascents and getting bent that would also explain his slow ascent before reporting he'd lost his wife. It also explains why a DM who had a more liberal interpretation of DCS risk jetted after her. Both of those facts aren't really inconsistent.

 

[AstroDad]

If it's in a newspaper (the internet or TV), it must be 100% true and accurate...

 

[MikeFerrara]

I'm a Rescue diver in Brisbane, Queensland, and I've been following the Inquest on the local news. QLD does indeed have the tightest regulations on scuba, and all inquests of this nature are very comprehensive, hence the 4 year delay. Most of the suspicious inconsistencies with this case have been mentioned previously, but I will add some details the investigation has announced to the Inquest:

• This was their honeymoon trip. The woman's greatest asset was her old car, and her life insurance policy, $30k worth, was known to be paid out to her father. Police are struggling to find a motive.
• The husband refused to come to Australia for the Inquest, the woman's parents are here and are present every day at the Inquest. This is despite the offer of free meals, accommodation and flights.
• No evidence pointing to faulty equipment was found, the woman's equipment was in perfect working order.
• I've read that her air was found turned on, even though she had asphyxiated.
• The man took 2 minutes to surface from 40', whereupon he started screaming for help, saying 'I've lost my wife'.
• The rescue diver took 1 and a half minutes to descend and return the body to the surface. As mentioned previously, the bottom can get to 80'
• Her mask & reg were in place
• Witnesses saw him give her a bear hug prior to the accident
• The other inconsistencies (ie current) have been mentioned previously.

By no means am I an expert, but if it was murder, I'm assuming he's given her a bear hug, switched her tank valve off and held her tight in a bear hug while she struggled as she asphyxiated. He's then switched her tank valve on, then started ascending to the surface to call for help, albeit ascending slowly so as to further decrease the opportunity for resuscitation.

What I don't get is the motive. Money is no motive, and they just got married....

I would think that"motive is pretty important. There are LOTS of dive accidents that look like murder to me but they're just not very good divers.

What about the woman a few years ago. She got tangled in kelp on descent and her two buddies waited for her at the bottom while she strugled. She drowned like 5 ft below the surface with a full tank of air.

We could look at case after case that were blunders of such magnitude that they look like murder.

 

[String]

Sure, some of the courses should improved, but at the same dissing the available training and calling it useless in one minute and screaming about people not having the training the next is kinda backwards..

Qualifications are useless without experience.

You cant rush experience.