Outrage over sentence in honeymoon drowning

Somehow I don't think they would be all that interested in that.

Note to new wife, "Do not go diving with this guy." This person got away with murder. The easiest thing to do in diving is buddy breathing. This procedure is practiced with and without a mask, on one or both divers at a time, with and without a second regulator, from 30 feet to 100 feet as a safety precaution in any advanced open water certification course. I have been diving since 14 and never once left my wingperson behind.

I've done a very large amount of diving. Diving is an inherently dangerous activity. I've been in several situations where my friends where in serious, possibly fatal, danger. I've rushed friends to the hospital.

Many of the issues with this case are actually quite normal for diving. Oxygen feeds, for example, can close accidentally - even without anyone touching the feed. As you decend into the water, the pressurization can cause a feed which was apparently open at the surface to become fully closed as you decend into the water.

Also, visibility is entirely directional as you dive. You only see what is immediately in front of you. Therefore, its not unusual at all that this man would swim away from his wife as she was having trouble. Its very very common behavior among divers to experience a tunnel vision, because they have to actually turn around to check where their partner is in the water. As a result, if your partner is struggling, its entirely reasonable to believe that a diver would swim away.

In this case, the woman is caught on video very close to several other tourists and struggling. To me, thats a fairly strong indication that there was probably no foul play involved. If the gentleman had wanted to harm his wife, he would not have done it right next to other tourists. The ocean is wide open - its very easy to swim out to a remote spot or a spot that is very very deep - to avoid being noticed by other tourists. He did not do that.

Basically, you can speculate all you want. To some extent I am speculating, but theres nothing about this case that doesn't look like a normal accidental scuba diving drowning.

"Oxygen feed"? Oxygen is NEVER utilized for scuba diving with tourists unless they have advanced training for breathing mixed gases on deep dives such as Nitrox or Heliox. Oxygen alone is TOXIC at depth. Normal scuba diving utilizes compressed air.

What you refer to as a "blocked feed" is actually your regulator (second stage), which used to happen on older diaphragm models, prior to the mid 80's. Today's needle valve regulators rarely block. If they do block, they block in the open position and not closed allowing the diver to continue breathing while going for the surface.

Normal and recommended equipment bench checks pretty much do away with equipment problems on both the first stage as well as the second stage. A second emergency regulator, standard on all dive boats for tourists, would have rendered equipment failure almost zero.

If I were on my honeymoon and diving with my inexperienced wife I would be holding her hand or at least be diving at her 5 o'clock or her 7 o'clock position. NEVER would she be out of my sight and I would still have a great dive and see everything. Visibility on the GWB is almost always more than 100 feet. Finding your partner is as easy as looking for shiny (the sun rays make them sparkle) rising air bubbles. Sorry, just don't agree with your tunnel vision theory or being able to swim off to escape from being seen.

One of the first things taught in basic open water diving courses is to not leave your partner, to be close enough to be helped, to go towards another diver for help when needed and to communicate by tapping on your tank. If none of these are available, then an emergency ascent should be executed. The fact that this lady received a bear hug from her husband and then could not signal by tapping on her tank, or go after another diver for help, or shoot for the top, is a clear indication that she had already blacked out by the time he let go of her and started swimming towards the surface, supposedly for help. Totally against anything his advanced dive training would teach.

Emergency ascent is probably one of the easiest thing to do on the GBR due to it being mostly shallow dives. If she had one breath of air in her lungs she would have made it to the top had she been awake. In order to qualify for a basic open water certificate she would have had to practice successfully emergency ascents.

What should be closely looked at is a motive. The small life insurance she had would not be worth the risk. A new love in his life might be a good motive. He did after all re-marry soon after.

You sound a little jaded mycroft. I can agree that women do need to be stronger, more serious about thier own self-defense, and more careful about the men they choose. I can't agree that her death is her fault. When you love someone you usually trust them unconditionally. All of us should able to do that and not be consumed by suspicion or fear.

That is possible, however she could have been struck by a car or befallen a similar circumstance. The point being is we can't rightly predict what might have been. You can't fault someone for their choice when they can't predict the person they love kills them without warning. The article made no mention as to any indicators that he might have been a dangerous person. Without that sort of indication, none of us could predict such an outcome. The nicest man anyone has ever met could well be the most evil and vile person on the planet and we would be no wiser unless something brought it to light.

It is one thing to plunge headlong into a relationship with someone who is obviously dangerous or abusive, but sometimes it doesn't surface for years. It's not really fair to the victim to blame them for their choice then.

"Our Justice System".....you might want to check and see it took place in Austrailia.

ladies and gentlemen, i present to you : "a person who does not bother to read the full story before rushing to newsvine"

It does seem Australia's system is even worse than yours or mine (USA/Canada).

Are you a little suspicious of the new swimming pool he had put in after the wedding to wife number two?

What he said.

Ya hate to think vigilante justice, but when government legal system fails the people, then the people have to start their own. "If the people lead, sooner or later the government will follow."

Had a similar case on TV a couple days ago, where a child had been abducted (on surveillance camera) and raped. Group of citizens found the perp and beat him up, was left in critical condition. All of the people deserve a citizenship medal.

Last I checked the person who was beaten was a "person of interest" and was not charged with the crime. For all they, and you, know he was an innocent guy who unfortunatly looked like the guy on camera....or perhaps a witness or other role. I'll have to check to see if they updated the article to see if he was charged....

he has to face his maker on day,he will not be dealt with that easy .

he will see the flames of HELL

I feel so badly for the deceased young bride's family and friends. There is something, I keep in mind, though, in view of all of the injustices taking place in our world:

"Trust in the Lord, with all thine heart, and lean not upon your own understanding."

With the taking of the flowers, the guy took from his wife's grave, he must be filled with hate, and who here would want to live his life? Justice will come about. Hope it is not too late for her family to bring a civil action against him and have a real trial.

No, this jerk could/should have saved her life! She was an inexperienced diver who only saught out diver training because her fiance wanted her to. Her family said she was scared to death but did it for him. I hope the family seeks out their own justice once he is released.

On top of that I can't believe he is remarried already -some grief!

it's 6 years later. Plenty of time for grief.

Unfortunately, the Great Barrier reef is probably a protected park and thus, doesn't allow divers to carry knives or wear gloves.  I am a certified divemaster and have been diving for 24 years. How the Austrailian govt. couldn't make a 1st degree murder case is unbelievable!

Amen

well, what if the father's wrong, and it was an accident? This is kind of why we have a justice system and not vigilantism.

Sometimes it's wrong somewtimes it's wrong but it's the social contract we live by. There are legal ways to see justice done, even under these circumstances.

You have an opinion but it's just that...your opinion. I would do what I had to do. End of story. No further discussion required.

Tripps is right. We have a justice system to remove the moral issue from our hands and into those of a third party. Vengence has never served anyone.

Sorry Exeder & Tripps that I lean to the side of vigilantism action in this particular instance, where if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and acts like a duck -- the ex would become a history lesson. If Jimmy Hoffa could 'disappear' this piece of trash could too. All fathers and brothers of beautiful brides everywhere would breathe sighs of relief. And as Henry Ford II once said: "Never complain, never explain."

Everyone who is involved in any court case, anywhere, anytime, needs to be alerted to maintain knowledge of their case, by doing their own research of state or federal statutes backed by case law. It is difficult these days, to even relax in the idea, that you can trust your own attorney. Not to say, they are all bad, because they are not. However, too many are bad, and the ethics committees simply do not do enough to change that fact from being true.

This loving family has certainly been put through a bitter challenge, and they must forgive, for their own sanity. However, their crusade has only begun, in which, justice will be found, by shining the spotlight on this issue. We all need to say a prayer of support for this family.

I wish for everyone reading this comment, that they do their best to clean up their own little corner of the world. If we all do this, it will help, not only ourselves, but everyone else, as well. Keep the faith, and do your best, and God will do the rest.

Personally I like the idea that someone had - feeding feet first into an industrial meat grinder. But more humanely, a ten foot rope and a twenty foot street lamp. Generally, I don't like death penalties, but there are some people that the world would be better off without. Scott Peterson, this guy, terrorists - if you have a rabid dog, you may grieve the loss, but you just put it away where it can't infect others.

I was once attacked, requiring surgery, and the prosecutor's office got my okay, before proceeding with a finalized plea bargain. The individual, who admitted what he did to me, received 6 years felony probation, with the warning, that if he broke his probation in any way, he would be sentenced to the full 6 years in prison.

The guy did break probation by being arrested again for attacking someone else, etc. Absolutely nothing happened to him. No jail time, ever, for what he did to me, and didn't even have to pay the medical bills. Justice is only what we make it, so we have to strive to make it be held responsible for its decisions and actions.

It kinda makes me wonder what an Australian prison is like. I know what most of them are like here in the U.S., and generally most places I think are pretty much the same. I mean when you are talking about a place where you concentrate the scum of society, it probably isn't a nice place. But I really don't know. I just hope it isn't going to be some kind of a halfway house thing because of the short amount of time he has left to serve.

Insurance money is usually a motive. He could very well be a black widow type of person.

"Wife #3," as you put it, may not be all he gets. There may be a fellow prison-mate who wants to be a "celebrity" and take him out of the picture, during that time in jail.

Not saying, I hope that happens, only that I would not be surprised to learn, that it happens. And if we pray for him, and he gains a conscience about what he did, then his mind will punish him, the rest of his life. I shall save my prayers for the young bride's family, in hopes that they remain strong and faithful.

dat right, u should be humping, not drowning

The NH case is completely different. Under the laws in Aruba (I believe they use Dutch law) without a body there aren't charges which can be prosecuted. And yes, the NH case is proof that we should be careful when vacationning. Stay with people you know and don't go gff with locals.

She most certainly was with someone she thought she knew...!!!!

earweed: My personal belief is that the true big diffrence in the NH case is the fact that one of the prime suspects was the son of the islands police chief. Also the fact that the other two were children of very wealthy parents.

b dune - I'm in agreement that the Austalians probably took what they could get.

Also his admission of guilt means the family should easily win a civil case against him back here in the US.

Everyone seems to forget that the person who saw it only saw him hug her. Don't get me wrong, I don't buy his story, but I can see how they might need more to get a murder conviction.

LaNita, I'm deeply sorry for your loss. I'm sure you would like to blame someone. But is it right to try to prosecute an individual who was close to your daughter when the accident happened?

Many of these extreme sports are inherently dangerous. If a person blacks out in water - for any reason - they will most likely drown. Drownings happens more than 50% of the time if someone loses consciousness. Its unfortunate that we lose so many people to such accidents, but the thrills do come at a price.