Posted on 06/21/2008 7:04:12 AM PDT by driftdiver
An American tourist was charged with murder yesterday for allegedly drowning his bride of 11 days on a scuba diving trip on the Great Barrier Reef during their honeymoon. Christina Mae Watson, 26, died while diving on a shipwreck near the northeastern Australian city of Townsville while her husband looked on.
Daniel Watson, 31, of Birmingham, Alabama, had claimed during police interviews that his wife had panicked a few minutes into the dive. He said that as she thrashed around in the water, she grabbed hold of his mask and pushed it off his face. He later described seeing her, with her eyes wide and arms stretched out towards him, sink into the deep.
Mr Watson was an experienced diver who had completed a diving rescue course and was acting as a “dive buddy” for his wife, who was a novice. Despite his training, he told police that he decided to go for help rather than attempt to rescue his wife. One of the leaders of the dive trip pulled Mrs Watson to the surface, but attempts to resuscitate her failed.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Well I'd like to respond to this although the fine Sam Paine is excoriating me for having an opinion, an opinion based on sound judgement I'd argue. Although by Sam, heh, one cannot have an opinion as we must assume that fine husband innocent which I must do IF I were on his jury.
But anyway, for the sake of discussion, and I will not respond to the very personable Sam or the very sweet and knowledgeable Hildy, let me state that the FIL SAID that his daughter told him that her soon-to-be husband asked her to change her beneficiary.
There's really no proof of that although I kind of believe him. Still and so, I would think this to be a "hear-say" kind of thing and am not at all sure it would be admissable in court. This would be up to the judge I surmise and if that bit of evidence causes him to go free than so be it. OJ still combs the links for his wife's killer and our justice system survived that assault upon it.
BTW, OJ was declared innocent in a criminal court. Is it okay for me to say I still think he is guilty? Or do I become garbage and riff-raff as Sam Paine would have it?
Also, as I understand it, the life insurance beneficiary was NOT changed so that fact brings to question the victim's father's assertion although, again, I believe him but I know that makes me a rabble rouser.
The biggest single item making this fine, fine husband who loved his wife so that he couldn't save her life, the singular person who he should have fought to the death to save what with his training is how he willy-nilly changed his story once he checked his facts. Gracious the guy even called the investigators and made a big deal about how he had been mistaken about the currents, or those lies he told the prior day.
I will also never understand to the day I die how her air got turned OFF. What, she turn around and turned it off?
Again, I think he's guilty. There's no law anywhere in this country that people not on a jury can't discuss guilt or innocence and to so claim is just to display ignorance.
Your opinions about the guilt of the suspect, about how unimpressed you are with my observations on the FR witch-hunting atmosphere on similar threads, and about how little you are willing to consider any opinion to the contrary are duly noted.
I suspect he could indeed be guilty as you say, but he may also very well be just an incredibly cowardly man, or like another poster on this thread may be the focus of an unlucky set of circumstances.
I hope you don’t let that suspected murderer ruin your life as well as hers by getting too involved with the case.
Take care.
A whole bunch of those folks on that dive gave accounts way different than this fine, fine fellow.
I forgot about that BENDS thing and you’re right, again, I forgot but all of HIS own instruments laid lie to everything this fine, fine fellow told the investigators.
Anyone with common sense, something they don’t like on this thread.GD04, would deduce this guy as guilty.
I think he’s guilty. I am under no obligation to presume his innocence so I don’t.
How about how he changed the speed of the currents the day FOLLOWING his talk with investigators once he checked the Internet and discovered he’d told the police a lie?
This guy’s a real gem. Maybe some of the fine folk on this thread will be on his jury. I’ve got a bridge to sell real cheap, soon to be newly remodeled.
As an very experienced diver, I found his entire story to be completely full of holes. Anyone who knows the whole story and knows diving also knows that his story is a bunch of crap! He is a murderer - plain and simple.
Same here. But it's the only justice system we've got.
There's a lot of brutal history in Texas regarding Lynchings (which were NOT, as commonly thought, for blacks only.) They were carried out willy nilly against suspected cattle thieves, suspected card cheats, suspect this suspect that.
Opinions and hunches and "common sense" were substituted for evidentiary hearings and order.
If we make a point to emphasize "(public) verdict first, then (judicial) trial!" then we set an example that will haunt our society as kids get dumber and dumber in our government schools.
Being conservatives makes us pretty damn unpopular with the kids coming up. Someday we may be deemed guilty in an alley for killing the planet with an SUV.
Sometimes on these threads I get the feeling that this society isn't very far away from that kind of "ruling" based on group "common consensus."
Saw the truth on TV did ya? Reminds me of this thread.
He may indeed be guilty. But I can't believe Freepers are so eager to regurgitate stuff from a media outlet that we know lies about absolutely everything else.
Turned her air off and then turned it back on later? This doesn’t pass the smell test and, unless there are witnesses, I call b.s. He would have also had to completely deflate her bc to make her sink so fast that the divemaster couldn’t reach her.
I am a trained rescue diver (I weigh 128#, so don’t expect me to drag you up the ladder on any boat.)
Or he could have overweighted her. From the picture she is already on the bottom when the DM sees her in trouble.
“I will also never understand to the day I die how her air got turned OFF. What, she turn around and turned it off?”
Its pretty much impossible to turn your own air off once you have the tank on. Unless you have a very very flexible arm.
In some of the training I’ve had we would turn each others air off to practice out of air conditions. We were in a pool or very shallow water. Its not hard to do it without the owner knowing about it.
Shouldn’t the divemaster on the boat have noticed that?
Maybe that’s a naive question, I don’t remember any dive when anyone checked my weight belt. My husband once noticed that I forgot to put mine on but I would have figured that out myself pretty quickly ;-)
The past few generations of conservatives have left a mess in many areas of this country. Sure they had some extreme issues to deal with and dealt with them well. However we now have to move forward and save this country.
Keeping the ole status quo is not working. The conservatives have allowed the communists to control the education system, legal system, immigration and so forth. Heck they even have a presidential candidate of their own now.
“Shouldn’t the divemaster on the boat have noticed that?”
Rarely in my experience. The better ones check your air and that you have both fins on. Checking everyones weight takes more time than they have. Unless of course they see something that raises a flag.
“My husband once noticed that I forgot to put mine on but I would have figured that out myself pretty quickly ;-)”
sounds like a good dive buddy.
True, they usually only check you off on their slate and make sure your air is on.
You’d love diving with my husband, he’s a great buddy, friends with less experience steal him from me constantly. He’s extremely good with beginners too.
We may be getting too chatty here but from your name I assume you’re a big fan of Cozumel. The currents were to fast for me and I ended up with a reverse squeeze. Hated it.
So true. Perhaps the worst thing that happened is that McCarthy gave anti-communism a bad name.
Conservatives (or at least republicans) became meek...afraid....shocked even when Goldwater said, "Extremism in the defence of liberty is no vice."
It was so true, but the commies and LBJ used it to stigmatize the 'crazy conservatives' on the right. I don't think we ever recovered...even Reagan was a 'pragmatic' party-first man.
I don't know what's coming up, but I'm not optimistic. I'd rather take my chances diving with this potential murderer guy as my dive buddy than to be a citizen in Barack's America. [shudder]
I do most of my diving in West Palm Beach and the Florida keys. Oh also springs and in the gulf. Take my kids out looking for fossilized sharks teeth. Try not to think about why there are so many sharks teeth there.
The dolphins killed them?
LOL, I don't buy that either. This is a curious case, please ping me if you see any updates.
When I taught diving, I liked to have a couple assistant instructors with me. That way a problem student wouldn't ruin the dive for every one.
I drilled my students HARD in the pool before they ever set fin in the ocean: pulled masks off, turned off their air, pushed them right to the edge under controlled conditions. That way I could spot the panickers ahead of time and be prepared. Some could be trained to over come their fear (it was usually claustrophobia); a few never could. It was almost always a woman.
When training in the ocean, I stayed close to my students, right next to them. The couple times students panicked, they bolted for the surface (to "escape"). I was trained to grab their BC and slow their ascent. If any one didn't exhale on the way up, I was ready to punch him in the stomach. I never had to do that.
I taught a bit over half that many in a couple years a long time ago (I was a student in PADI's very first Instructor Training Course). My classes also went beyond PADI recommended instruction.
There was one training technique I liked to use after all the pool training and before the ocean dives. I would separate the class into two groups, and have them play SCUBA soccer at the bottom of the deep end. The "ball" was a dive mask, and the players weren't allow to touch it with their hands. They had to move it with their fins. The classes were always very enthusiastic and the competition was fierce. They really became comfortable with the equipment at that point.
As they were competing, my assistants and I would lurk among the players, turning their air off and watching them react. That's when their training kicked in.
I am happily married for a long time so maybe I don’t know how it feels to be alone, but I can not believe the scum some women hang around with....they get treated like trash and wonder why they aren’t happy.....
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