Sorry to interrupt, but I believe there may actually be a new development that's actually related to the topic of this thread:
Dive death hearing delayed until 2011
" Dive death hearing delayed until 2011
Tony Bartlett
October 13, 2010 - 4:54PM
AAP
Witnesses will be flown from China when a committal hearing resumes in seven months into manslaughter charges laid against a dive instructor over the drowning of a tourist on the Gold Coast.
Yuri Bonning, 43, of the Gold Coast suburb of Ashmore, is charged with the manslaughter of Xia Dai, 20, a Chinese student at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, NSW.
Ms Dai and a group of fellow students booked a holiday and scuba diving experience on the Gold Coast in April 2009.
Her body was found on the ocean floor after she disappeared during a dive off Wave Break Island in the Southport Broadwater.
At the opening of the committal hearing on October 7, police prosecutor Reece Foort told the court that Bonning failed in her duty as a dive instructor in a number of significant ways.
Detective-Senior Constable Foort said that Ms Dai was not adequately briefed or instructed, was over-weighted and her air regulator was faulty.
The court heard weather conditions on the day were poor, which meant closer supervision of the young divers was needed.
"All these were factors which conspired on that day to lead to her death," Det Foort said.
However, specialty diving instructor Matthew Wallace, 28, who now works at Airlie Beach, described his former colleague as an "organised and methodical" instructor who had never done anything to suggest her skill levels were below expectations.
Mr Wallace said the Professional Association of Diving Instructors had carried out its own investigation into the tragedy and had not taken any disciplinary action against Bonning.
A number of other students who were on the dive will be flown from China to give evidence when the hearing resumes in Southport District Court on May 3, 2011"
Dive death hearing delayed until 2011
" Dive death hearing delayed until 2011
Tony Bartlett
October 13, 2010 - 4:54PM
AAP
Witnesses will be flown from China when a committal hearing resumes in seven months into manslaughter charges laid against a dive instructor over the drowning of a tourist on the Gold Coast.
Yuri Bonning, 43, of the Gold Coast suburb of Ashmore, is charged with the manslaughter of Xia Dai, 20, a Chinese student at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, NSW.
Ms Dai and a group of fellow students booked a holiday and scuba diving experience on the Gold Coast in April 2009.
Her body was found on the ocean floor after she disappeared during a dive off Wave Break Island in the Southport Broadwater.
At the opening of the committal hearing on October 7, police prosecutor Reece Foort told the court that Bonning failed in her duty as a dive instructor in a number of significant ways.
Detective-Senior Constable Foort said that Ms Dai was not adequately briefed or instructed, was over-weighted and her air regulator was faulty.
The court heard weather conditions on the day were poor, which meant closer supervision of the young divers was needed.
"All these were factors which conspired on that day to lead to her death," Det Foort said.
However, specialty diving instructor Matthew Wallace, 28, who now works at Airlie Beach, described his former colleague as an "organised and methodical" instructor who had never done anything to suggest her skill levels were below expectations.
Mr Wallace said the Professional Association of Diving Instructors had carried out its own investigation into the tragedy and had not taken any disciplinary action against Bonning.
A number of other students who were on the dive will be flown from China to give evidence when the hearing resumes in Southport District Court on May 3, 2011"
