On October 22nd of 2003, a 26-year old American woman named Christina Mae “Tina” Thomas Watson died while diving the Yongala wreck in Queensland, Australia. This tragedy happened just eleven days after she had married David Gabriel “Gabe” Watson, who was initially charged with murder by Queensland authorities, and who later was charged in Alabama, though he was already serving a term of imprisonment in Australia for manslaughter in the case. Many divers paid close attention to this case, from beginning to end. Here, we’ll provide a brief overview of the case and look at the lesson everyone can take away from it.
The Accident
Just before Gabe and Tina Watson were married in October of 2003, Tina Watson took beginning dive lessons, earning her certification in anticipation of a honeymoon scuba trip to the Great Barrier Reef.
Gabe Watson was certified as a rescue diver, but when Tina lost consciousness and slipped to the bottom, 100 feet below the surface, he continued his ascent, claiming she was sinking too rapidly for him to help her, and saying that not only did he have an ear problem, he had no knowledge about how to help another diver to the surface.
A fellow diver was taking photos, and accidentally captured an image of Tina Watson lying on the ocean floor. While this photo was being taken, Gabe Watson was on his way to the surface. Once he made it to the boat, he alerted instructor Wade Singleton of the emergency. Singleton dove in and brought Tina to the surface, and a doctor on an adjacent dive boat attempted to resuscitate her.
The day after Tina Watson died, the Queensland Coroner’s office conducted an autopsy, stating that the cause of death was drowning.
Investigation and Lawsuits
After the accident, Gabe Watson returned home, declining to testify at the inquest, during which the prosecution submitted evidence that Watson had turned off his wife’s air supply and held her until she became unconscious, then dropped her after turning the air back on. They suggested that he let her sink while he resurfaced, using numerous reenactment scenarios played out by police divers to make their points throughout the case. Tina Watson’s father said Tina had told him that Gabe asked her to increase her life insurance and name him as her sole beneficiary shortly before the wedding.
In March of 2005, Gabe Watson tried to recoup the cost of the scuba trip after the couple’s travel insurance company refused to pay damages. In addition, he sought $45,000 USD for his wife’s accidental death, along with compensation for a number of expenses including punitive damages for emotional and mental anguish. In 2008, he dismissed this action on grounds that Australia’s investigation into Tina’s death caused him to believe that he might incriminate himself in her death. Then, on June 5th of 2009, Gabe Watson pled “Not Guilty” to murder and “Guilty” to manslaughter. The prosecutor for the Crown in the case pointed out that Watson had given officials no less than 16 stories about what had happened, and that none of those matched what the only witness said he had seen. In addition, the prosecutor described Watson as an experienced diver trained in rescuing others. In the end, Watson’s Australian sentence was shortened to 12 months from an original sentence of four and one-half years.
Watson was arrested on November 25th of 2010, immediately after completing his sentence in Australia and arriving back in the United States. He was indicted on murder charges, with prosecutors in the case claiming they had evidence he had planned to kill Tina while the couple was still in the US prior to their honeymoon.
Then, new evidence was brought to light. After Colin McKenzie, a key diving expert in the case, was provided with both divers’ logs, plus certificates and medical histories he had previously had no access to, he retracted much of his testimony.
He found that Tina Watson had had heart surgery two years prior to her death, but on her dive application had stated she had neither heart problems nor surgery. As for Gabe Watson, he had received his rescue certification after a two-day course in an Alabama quarry – normally, this course takes four days to complete. His rescue certificate was expired, and he was found to have no rescue experience. In addition, he had very little open water diving experience.
Later, it was found that Gabe Watson “had no hope of being competent” the day his wife died, much less being capable of saving her or intending to kill her. In fact, he had needed help donning his own gear that day. The fact that both Gabe and Tina Watson had been offered –and refused - an orientation and a guided dive with a dive master was also discussed. The dive company leading the tour to the Yongala took Watson at his word, believing he was certified and experienced. They were later fined for contravening safety standards.
In the end, the Alabama murder case was dismissed. Though highly sensationalized, this case illustrates some simple principles. Divers must never overstate their own qualifications or encourage others to do so, and dive operators can never be too cautious in verifying that divers are in fact qualified to participate in the sport. Doing otherwise might very well result in tragedy.