TORTOLA, British Virgin Islands — A Rhode Island man accused of drowning his wife during a 1999 scuba diving trip choked back emotions as he described the deadly dive in court Wednesday, saying he cried over her lifeless body after his efforts to save her failed. David Swain, 53, who faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted, testified that he had "no idea" how Shelly Tyre drowned during the dive in British Virgin Islands waters. He said they descended together and then parted ways at a shipwreck. After he surfaced, he heard another diver shouting for help and clutching his wife's body. Swain, who had worked as an emergency medical technician for years before opening a dive shop in Rhode Island, helped lift Tyre onto a dinghy, where he led rescue efforts including CPR. "It was a horrible vision, seeing her with open mouth and open eyes," Swain told jurors in testimony in his own defence. "It was the face of a person that didn't have any life." The 1999 drowning was initially ruled an accident. But authorities in the British Virgin Islands later charged Swain with murder after a 2006 civil trial in his home state found him responsible. He was extradited to Tortola the following year and has been in jail here since.
Prosecutors allege Swain killed his 46-year-old wife so he could pursue a romance with another woman, and because the couple's prenuptial agreement denied him money if they divorced. Experts have testified that they believe Swain wrestled Tyre from behind, tore off her mask and shut off her air supply. Swain has always maintained his innocence and his defence lawyers have said they will show the drowning was a "tragic accident." After Tyre's body was brought into the dinghy, Swain told jurors that he stopped performing CPR after two to three minutes when he judged she could not be resuscitated. He and a friend put out an emergency call on the marine radio. When asked why he stopped performing CPR so quickly, he responded: "We were, in my mind, miles away from any kind of advanced life support help. After 10 years of being part of accident scenes, witnessing accident scenes ... it was obvious that she wasn't coming back." Rescuers are taught to continue CPR until they are too exhausted to continue, or until another trained responder arrives. His descriptions of his rescue efforts elicited loud sobs from Tyre's mother in the courtroom. Swain said he briefly cried around her lifeless body. "I thought I've done everything I could - and what good did it do? I thought I wish that we had traded places. I thought that it's over, but it's time to start doing other things. I thought a lot of things at the same time," he said. Swain disputed allegations that he depended on Tyre's money to keep his now-shuttered dive shop open, maintaining that he always paid her back. "In the off season she would loan the store money and in the good season the store would pay that money back," he said. Forensic accountant Anthony D. Lee had earlier testified that Swain inherited more than half a million dollars after her 1999 death. But nearly five years later, he had accumulated nearly $190,000 in credit card debt and had spent the $630,000 inheritance on trips and his dive shop. Prosecutors, who closed their case Tuesday, also allege Swain killed her to pursue Mary Basler, a Rhode Island chiropractor who testified that she became intimate with him about two months after Tyre's death. She said she ended the fling in late 2000. Swain recalled he was "an emotional wreck" over his wife's death during his relationship with Basler, and they "came to the conclusion that we were better friends than lovers." The trial began Oct. 7. Defence lawyers said they will call up to seven witnesses, including a diving expert, a medical specialist and a Rhode Island psychologist. By Mason Marcus | 
