TOWNSVILLE, Australia (28 Nov 2007) — GABE Watson's failure to save his new bride's life, despite his considerable rescue diver training, was at the heart of yesterday's coronial inquest into the death of Tina Watson. A controversial witness statement detailing Mr Watson giving Tina a `bear hug' and a re-enactment of the bear hug by police divers both in court and on video underwater were also key lines of inquiry in the seventh day of the two-week inquest before coroner David Glasgow. American emergency doctor Dr Stanley Stutz, who was a dive passenger on the dive boat Jazz II on the day of the incident, told police that he had seen Tina under water in a state of considerable distress before being given a bear hug by another diver. Barrister Harvey Walters, acting on behalf of Tina's parents Tom and Cindy Thomas, quoted from Dr Stutz's statement that he had seen a male diver he called diver two, whom he later identified as Mr Watson, move on top of Tina, with her lying on her back and facing upwards, and he facing down. "Her arms were stretched out to the sides, and the arms of diver two were circling her torso," he said. "I could not see what the arms of diver two were doing behind her back. "They were in this embrace for about 30 seconds and then they separated. "Her limp body movements did not change, she did not start swimming, and I did not see any bubble trails. "Diver two did not go after her, and she disappeared into the blackness." Former Queensland police diver Senior Constable Joshua Kinghorn continued his evidence, with Crown lawyer John Tate asking if Senior Constable Kinghorn and fellow police diver Senior Constable Owen Law could re-enact the bear hug in court, with Senior Constable Kinghorn wearing Tina's dive equipment and Senior Constable Law playing the role of Mr Watson. Mr Tate confirmed that the divers had simulated the bear hug underwater with Senior Constable Law's arms over those of Senior Constable Kinghorn, but then asked the officers if they could also show the court the bear hug with Senior Constable Law's arms going underneath those of Senior Constable Kinghorn. Senior Constable Law said the exercise with his arms underneath was much easier to enact and gave him `easier purchase' to the valve on the air tank. Mr Tate also pointed out that this position also left the arms of Senior Constable Kinghorn, representing Tina, much more free to flail around and potentially knock off a mask and regulator. The inquest also heard from diving expert Constable Ricky Murdoch, a former navy clearance diver of 11 years and now with the Queensland police dive squad. Constable Murdoch confirmed he had participated in the police dive re-enactment in September last year of the movements of Gabe and Tina Watson on the wreck of the Yongala on October 22, 2003. Constable Murdoch examined the dive profiles of Tina, Mr Watson and Wade Singleton, questioning Mr Watson's `very conservative' ascent to the surface from 15m. "Mr Watson's dive profile shows he took two minutes and 30 seconds to reach the surface, which is a very conservative rate of ascent, considering his rescue diver training and the level of emergency," he said. | | Police divers Senior Constable Joshua Kinghorn (left) re-enacts Tina Watson's position as Senior Constable Owen Law (right) re-enacts the said movements of Gabe Watson. Tina Watson died on her honeymoon while scuba diving with Mike Ball Dive Expeditions. "His time based on a safe civilian rate of ascent should have been 9m a minute, which means he should have taken just one minute and 18 seconds to reach the surface to seek help. "(His dive profile showed) there had been no rush to get to the surface." Mr Walters then suggested to Constable Murdoch that Tina's air tank could have been turned off. "My theory is that the hug was to hold the diver close to prevent them getting to their air, and then that person saw other divers start descending, so has turned the air back on to cover up what he has done, and headed for the surface," Mr Walters said. Constable Murdoch agreed that such a hug could have prevented a person turning their air tank back on, and confirmed Mr Walters' suggestion that such a loss of air would contribute to both loss of consciousness and an inability to inflate her buoyancy device. Constable Murdoch also demonstrated how Tina's integrated weights could have easily been jettisoned, unzipping the closures and dropping them audibly to the courtroom floor within seconds. "It seems strange if someone has hold of someone and they are sinking, and they have rescue qualifications, that they would let that person sink to the bottom," he said. "Why did he stop going down after her when there was perfect visibility and he could see both her and the bottom? "If he had done all the things that he said had been going through his mind about ditching her weights and inflating her BCD, he would not have even needed to kick to get to the surface. "But he just stopped." SOURCE - Townsville BulletinSCUBA FORUMDISCUSS THIS TOPIC - Dive in and have your say at Scuba Forum |
