Maltese court convicts dive buddy

[SlugLife]

Yup we are not tethered to each other or being watched by crew as Mac writes.

When I was in Bohol, diving with a regular dive buddy and a DM, I was ahead of them and slightly above on a wall dive. I saw a nice clam in an overhead cavity that went into the wall. I incorrectly assumed they saw me go in. Nope, it was like wtf where is Avai? He's gone and vanished.

Well they look around first down the sandy slope seeing if any bubble trails, nada, zip. They ascend to the top of the wall where the reef flattens out with a sandy sea bed at around 8m depth, nup cannot be seen no bubble trails. They descend back down to the 15m depth we were at and pass by below the cavity I was in. I take some photos and video and come out of the overhead and drop in behind them, but not very far from them. My regular buddy looks behind and sees me and we give each other the OK sign. Back on the boat we chatted about my magician act.

I explained where I was and why they could not see me yet they were only several yards away. There was no panic by the DM or my buddy. The DM and my buddy both know I take photos or video sometimes.

An easy magic-act is to just swim slightly behind and above a diver. For them to see you, they have to turn around, and ruin their trim. I suppose a barrel-roll might also do the trick, but those are annoying to do.

This highlights the importance of effective cross-examination, and having your own experts. If we pretend someone like mac64 was the expert-witness, it took 3-4 pages of repeating the same questions to go...

• from: "I've never lost sight of a buddy for even a moment. Losing sight is how buddies drown. Manslaughter"
• to: "You're describing a completely different type of diving, with a tethered and stationary diver, often surface supply, with one half of the "buddy" team not even in the water, often without visual contact, and often with coms. Contrasted with a standard buddy-team, where you're both moving 100s of yards underwater together, and any tethering would be an entanglement hazard, and coms are extremely uncommon due to cost, specialty equipment, and training requirements."

 

[clownfishsydney]

If I understand you correctly, we have differing memories of this event.

In my memory, he was initially charged with manslaughter in Australia under an unusual law, similar to what happened here, requiring him to provide a competent rescue attempt. He was guilty of not doing so, so he did plead guilty.

After that, an Alabama prosecutor charged him with murder, under the theory that his actions were intentional and not merely incompetent--a totally different theory. When it went to trial there, the prosecutor's case was so weak that the judge dismissed the case before the defense presented its case.

No, he was charged with murder in Australia. Queensland had a law (that has since been repelled) that seems similar to the Malta one. The basis of that plea was criminal negligence under s 290 of the Criminal Code, which provided:

"When a person undertakes to do any act the omission to do which is or may be dangerous to human life or health, it is the person's duty to do that act, and the person is held to have caused any consequences which result to the life or health of any person by reason of any omission to perform that duty."​

He should never have pleaded guilty, if I had got involved at that stage I am confident that Gabe could have got off. I kick myself for not doing so, he was really not much more experienced than Tina and had no idea how to handle the conditions or the situation. Remember, I was the dive expert witness for the defence in the Alabama murder trial and what I provided to the defence was one of the reasons the judge threw out the case after the prosecution rested its case.

It would appear that before he left the USA to come back, his lawyers worked out a plea to a lesser charge, although the prosecutors denied this to Tina's father.

 

[clownfishsydney]

Not in a lifetime would I abandon a diver in the water and I'd expect the exact same from them.

I find it hard to believe that you really have over 5,000 dives experience with a statement like this and others. As others have pointed out, there is no point two people getting into big trouble when the likelihood is the second person probably cannot do anything anyway. Eg, your buddy ascends to the surface blowing lots of deco, why put your life in danger chasing them?

I might have done this to help my then wife when I was married, but other than doing it for child, I cannot think of a situation where I would take an extreme risk to my life to save a stranger or even a friend.

It is also naive to think that divers have to keep an eye on a buddy for 100% of the time. It is impossible and impractical. Have I ever lost a buddy? Of course I have, it happens when you have done almost 5,000 dives (real ones). Were some my fault? Probably, but the majority happened because the buddy did not follow directions or went off by themselves for an unknown reason. Did I chase after them? Well, as long as I was not going to get into trouble myself, yes.

 

[Celt]

I find it hard to believe that you really have over 5,000 dives experience with a statement like this and others. As others have pointed out, there is no point two people getting into big trouble when the likelihood is the second person probably cannot do anything anyway. Eg, your buddy ascends to the surface blowing lots of deco, why put your life in danger chasing them?

I might have done this to help my then wife when I was married, but other than doing it for child, I cannot think of a situation where I would take an extreme risk to my life to save a stranger or even a friend.

It is also naive to think that divers have to keep an eye on a buddy for 100% of the time. It is impossible and impractical. Have I ever lost a buddy? Of course I have, it happens when you have done almost 5,000 dives (real ones). Were some my fault? Probably, but the majority happened because the buddy did not follow directions or went off by themselves for an unknown reason. Did I chase after them? Well, as long as I was not going to get into trouble myself, yes.

im not going into any tight corners with you on stand-by. The people I dive with are family. Not strangers on the Internet. But I'm starting to see why that lady is dead. The buddy just wasn't willing to put himself at any risk.

 

[Wibble]

But I'm starting to see why that lady is dead. The buddy just wasn't willing to put himself at any risk.

She died through a multitude of her own errors. Her "buddy" isn't responsible for her own incompetence.

Harsh, yes. But reality.

Rule number one with diving: you and only you are responsible for yourself (unless under instruction). You are responsible for preparing, planning and executing your dive. You are responsible for monitoring your equipment and responding to any events. You are responsible for ensuring your own safety during the dive. You are responsible for calling the dive.

You should never expect someone else to put themselves in danger to rescue you.

 

[Celt]

She died through a multitude of her own errors. Her "buddy" isn't responsible for her own incompetence.

Harsh, yes. But reality.

Rule number one with diving: you and only you are responsible for yourself (unless under instruction). You are responsible for preparing, planning and executing your dive. You are responsible for monitoring your equipment and responding to any events. You are responsible for ensuring your own safety during the dive. You are responsible for calling the dive.

You should never expect someone else to put themselves in danger to rescue you.

When solo, not when 2 divers plan a dive together and agree to buddy up. You take on the responsibility to watch out for each other. End of story. If you're not willing to do that stick to solo diving.

 

[Wibble]

When solo, not when 2 divers plan a dive together and agree to buddy up. You take on the responsibility to watch out for each other. End of story. If you're not willing to do that stick to solo diving.

We'll need to differ here.

Agreeing to buddy with someone doesn't mean you're agreeing to spoon-feed them, constantly monitor them and wipe their backsides.

I am not their carer. If they need a carer, pay for one.

 

[Celt]

We'll need to differ here.

Agreeing to buddy with someone doesn't mean you're agreeing to spoon-feed them, constantly monitor them and wipe their backsides.

I am not their carer. If they need a carer, pay for one.

Look I get it, with you it's a case of f u jack I'm OK. Thats not how I was trained or how I intend to carry out dives.

 

[Wibble]

Look I get it, with you it's a case of f u jack I'm OK. Thats not how I was trained or how I intend to carry out dives.

Sorry, that's most definitely not the point. It's not screw you, it's very much that you must be responsible as a diver and not rely on others to mitigate your lack of skills.

OK, lets split this into different scenarios.

• If I were on a cattle boat (warm water, rock up at a random dive centre, go diving with random strangers), then I make it absolutely clear that I am not a good buddy and expect them to look after themselves. I'm there to go diving, not there as a non-paid helper.

• If I were to offer to help someone, say a friend/relative/whatever, in advance of a dive, then I would be going there primarily to "mentor" that person. This means they get my undivided attention as we, for example, go through skills cycles or practice.

• If in a crappy dive lake or quarry which are usually solo hostile, then we have to dive together as a teem. This can be difficult in some locations where the visibility is very poor -- less than 30cm/1ft. Here one can wait on the surface for the missing buddies. Ascent by consent of all divers, generally through cold or boredom.

• If on a normal UK dive boat, it would be as a solo/independent diver and not diving "with" anybody. Should I go diving with someone else, it would be a very loose diving partnership and made clear on the boat. This is particularly important if they've expectations of a short dive when I'm planning for 2+ hours. I wouldn't be particularly looking out for them, although of course I would respond to any signals or requests for help. At the end of the dive if we're still together then we may or may not go up together: hand signal to wave goodbye to each other. Again, if there were problems of course I'd help and even go up with them.
  Obviously it depends on conditions. Sometimes it can be a team dive where one of us reels out a line from the shot. Or someone testing some kit where we do stick together.

• On a technical dive boat it would be independent and probably all back to the lazy shot for hours of deco. The bottom portion alone or just around other divers.

• On a cave/mine dive it would be very much a team approach, laying lines or jumps as required and properly sticking together.

It's literally any of the above and more as it all depends what we're doing, what mood we're in, and how things pan out in the end.

What is important is that nobody is in any doubt about their buddy expectations. It's a serious commitment and if you cannot commit, this must be made very clear in advance.

 

[Miyaru]

Look I get it, with you it's a case of f u jack I'm OK. Thats not how I was trained or how I intend to carry out dives.

You have been very successful in hijacking the thread with your opinion, which I regard as stubborn and suffering from tunnelvision. But that's OK.

At the same time I wonder if you agree with the Maltese court that the dive buddy is guilty of involuntarily causing her death?
And, that a dive buddy has a duty according to the court's interpretation of the law?