New Zealand: Diver accused of wasting police time reappears in court

[DwayneJ]

I'm with Bruce on this. I don't think we know much about this case, although we can fill in the blanks...

Nope. I talked to the local police and was told he did not dive. Other than calling his wife and saying he found a dive spot, this case is not a dive related.

 

[DandyDon]

Nope. I talked to the local police and was told he did not dive. Other than calling his wife and saying he found a dive spot, this case is not a dive related.

You talked to the NZ police about this one? Were you there at the time?

 

[DocVikingo]

RE:

Whether Alzheimer's*, Dementia, Amnesia, Bi-polar, whatever, or faking the disappearance is not evident.

Hi DonDonaldo,

As others have said, there is yet much to know here. But, for the fun of conjecture let’s toss it around a bit

I'm assuming that a straight-forward faked disappearance can be ruled out as one typically does not spend 6 weeks (already and there may be more) in a psychiatric facility for a simple, outright scam. The hoosegow maybe, but not Nurse Ratched’s ward.

This having been assumed, given the apparent presentation and reported expectation of a full recovery, many psychiatric and neurological disorders readily can be ruled out, e.g., Alzheimer's, progressive dementias, the majority of psychoses.

I'm guessing that he probably experienced what is currently classified as a BehaveNet® Clinical Capsule™: Dissociative Fugue. They're uncommon and obviously quite striking. Second guess is a BehaveNet® Clinical Capsule™: Brief Psychotic Disorder

We’ll probably never find out for certain.

Regards,

DocVikingo

 

[ItsBruce]

I'm having a problem with the bit about "faking your own disappearance." Unless it is done with the intent to cause the authorities to undertake a search or to defraud someone, i.e. avoid paying lawful obligations, collect on life insurance, etc., what is wrong with taking off and not telling anyone? If I tell my wife I'm going in to work so she does not complain that I spend all my time diving and I go diving instead, am I faking my own disappearance? Have I violates some sort of law? If she tries calling me at work, finds I'm not there and calls the police to say I'm missing, and the police find me at the beach, can they charge me with any sort of a crime? Can they charge me for the cost of looking for me?

 

[2 Big 2 Fail]

"Intent" is a defined legal term and intention is not necessarily required. In Texas, for instance, there is a False Report offence the relevant portion of which is:

...knowingly initiates, communicates or circulates a report of a present, past, or future bombing, fire, offense, or other emergency that he knows is false or baseless and that would ordinarily:
(1) cause action by an official or volunteer agency organized to deal with emergencies;

The "knowing" culpable mental state means you must at least know that your conduct is likely to produce the result. If I tell my wife I'm going to dive at such and such place and will return or if it's understood that I always return, I know that if I don't return by, say, dark, she's going to activate some emergency services. There's a principle of responsibility called "causation" that says if I cause something to happen that wouldn't have happened but for my action, it's as it I did that thing myself. So the "initiates" part could be fulfilled, because I caused my wife to make the false report by my act that I knew likely would cause that to happen.

Now, if I tell my wife I'm going to work, and she finds I didn't and calls the police, it does not immediately become an emergency. As an adult, I can disappear if I want to and be voluntarily missing. In the US at least, an adult cannot be entered into the missing persons database unless it can be shown that they are likely endangered (senile, suicidal, was being stalked, etc.). I don't have any reason to believe that I will instigate an emergency response, so I'm not culpably knowing. But when I said I was diving, that changed things, since I certainly know what that will trigger.


I suspect that, unless it becomes clear that the guy was meanly trying to torment his wife or do some other malicious thing, as opposed to being mental in some way, he won't be prosecuted. The charge can be a legal and convenient way to get him into treatment, once he was found.

 

[DwayneJ]

You talked to the NZ police about this one? Were you there at the time?

I'm an expat Kiwi - I talked to them on the phone. Where he said he was and where he ended up were very well known to me. I used to Hang Glide around the area he said he was diving.

I was actually concerned for the guy's safety as I have had work colleagues who had suffered strokes and exhibited "unusual behavior". Obviously as a diver, there are also diving incidents which can also cause stroke like events.

It was a brief conversation but this event had nothing to do with diving.

Dwayne

 

[DandyDon]