Ayisha said:
Again I ask, what are the "usual signs" of panic that Tina exhibited? Not he said - he said things, but anything that can be independently seen? There is no she-said to this story except whatever the coroner found. Mask off, reg out, etc., the "usual signs" can be independently seen to not be true, even by us in the photo of her laying on the bottom lifeless.
Seriously?
I take it you acknowledge that a mask ripped off and a spat out regulator are consistent with a diver who had an active panic attack. By extension then, a perfectly functioning regulator in the mouth and a mask squarely affixed to the face are at least consistent with a passive panic attack.
There are accounts by the way that Tina expressed in oral and written forms that she had anxiety while diving, which do indeed shed some light on this case and give more of a voice to Tina than merely what happened on that terrible day.
“Independently verified not to be true”? You mean like an eyewitness actually seeing him murder his wife or forensic evidence that ties him to the actual crime? You know, your run-of-the-mill prosecution's burden of proof kind of stuff.
Again, since Gabe’s account includes a description of her panicking, Dr. Edmonds’ testimony qualifies as evidence in the “independently verified” category for this description of events, thus making the prosecution’s account of him turning off her air in the fashion suggested in the past “not to be true”. Of course Dr. Edmonds has yet to have this opinion vetted under cross examination. We’ll see if it holds up. You seem to want to dismiss what “he” (I am assuming Gabe here) says, but his words are crucial to establishing at least some degree of truth in this case, whatever that ends up being.
Yes, her body was found in the state it was. You are right there. But I do not recall Gabe ever saying that she tore her mask off and spat her regulator out. That they were still in place “independently verifies” that much of the story to be accurate. Since he didn’t say otherwise, how is his account of events impeached by the stasis of her body when found? He said she panicked and tried to grab his regulator and mask, which frightened him forcing him to retreat, when she then sank with a horrified look on her face. At least that is the account I recall reading.
And this is beside the point anyway. If there were in fact records of Tina panicking in an active, patterned, i.e “usual way” prior to the dive when she died, this does not automatically suggest that she would panic in the same way in a situation where the diving circumstances are different, which the dive on the Yongala appeared to have provided in more than one instance.
People react passively and aggressively in a host of situations. And if other people looking at these instances bear any biases toward “usual” panic—mask ripped off, regulator spat out, etc.—then Tina exhibiting signs of inaction in the past when she was stressed underwater may not have been interpreted as panic in the first place and simply forgotten. If there are recorded signs of her panicking in a passive way, would that be enough evidence for you that she couldn’t have active panicked in this scenario? Clearly this wouldn’t be the case, as well it shouldn’t be.
And that is the rub of the entire context of this case. That Tina’s body was found with her equipment intact, replete with mask on and regulator in her mouth, is not conclusive of anything, really, which as Divedoggie says is a benefit to the defendant, or at least should be. Who knows in this day and age? Do you agree that this ought to be the case if this stalemate stands at trial?
It is also important to point out that the original scenario put forward, that of Gabe Watson holding her in a bear hug, pinning her arms, and then turning off her air, could certainly have induced panic in a diver as well. She would have been looking directly at the man—her husband—who was killing her in this fashion.
Why wouldn’t she have spat out her regulator in a panic as she watched her husband kill her? Was he turning off her air, pinning her arms and somehow also octopus-like keeping her regulator and mask in place as well?
It could be argued that the regulator still being in her mouth shows that a violent action such as this never happened. The knife cuts both ways, which also ought to work in the defendant’s favour.
I would think that turning off her air from behind while she didn’t notice it would be a far more likely scenario (I have seen this exact thing take place as a bloody practical diving joke between local DMS in the Philippines. I kid you not!) . If she were sucking on a regulator that suddenly stopped producing air, she may well have continued to suck harder in a desperate attempt to breath not understanding what was wrong, passive panicked because the one solution her narrowed vision supplied failed, and then died, only to have Gabe quickly turn the air back on after the fact while flipping her body around to let it settle below. That seems a far better reality in the scope of things in my opinion. Better than what has been suggested before. Of course there is absolutely no evidence of this scenario taking place either as far as I know. It also gives this glass-half-full defendant far more benefit in the intelligence department than I feel he deserves to be perfectly frank.
Cheers!
