Dianne Brimble

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Dianne Elizabeth Brimble (1960?-2002) was a 42-year-old mother of three from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. She died within 24 hours of boarding the P&O Cruises cruise ship Pacific Sky on September 23, 2002, apparently due to ingesting a combination of alcohol and an overdose of the drug gamma-hydroxybutyrate, otherwise known as "GHB" or "fantasy". According to news reports, security staff on the cruise ship were initially told Mrs Brimble had died of a heart attack, but there were suspicious circumstances [1].

Toxicology reports later revealed that the amount of the sedative drug in her system was three times the amount that a recreational user would have used. Her body was found on the floor of cabin D182, which belonged to four of the men whom she had met at the ship's disco the previous night.^[1] Newspaper reports give differing accounts as to whether Mrs. Brimble was partially clothed or unclothed when she was found dead.

Eight men from Adelaide, South Australia who were traveling companions on the ship have been named by police investigators as "persons of interest" in the case: Mark Robin Wilhelm, Matthew Graham Slade, Dragan Losic, Petar Vladimir Pantic, Ryan Kym Kuchel, Letterio Silvestri, Luigi Vitale and Sakelaros "Charlie" Kambouris.^[2] No charges have yet been filed against any of the men. All eight have been subpoenaed and are expected to give testimony during the coroner's court of inquest which began in March 2006. An attempt by Wilhelm's attorney to challenge the inquest was rejected, and Wilhelm has been ordered by Deputy State Coroner Jacqueline Milledge to appear when called.[2] Mark Brimble, the ex-husband of Dianne Brimble, represented the family at the inquest and asked questions of witnesses. Other cruiseship passengers and personnel have already made statements or are expected to give testimony during the coronor's inquest.

Photographs were recovered from the memory card in a camera owned by one of the men, "Charlie" Kambouris. The camera's memory card had been reformatted but technical experts managed to recover the pictures for police. The photographs have not been released to the media because they are considered too graphic. They allegedly showed Mrs Brimble engaging in sexual activity with Mark Wilhelm and Letterio Silvestri. Wilhelm claimed that the sex was consensual. Other photographs allegedly showed Mrs. Brimble later lying on the floor of the cabin in a semi-nude state, having lost control of her bodily functions.^[2]. At one point, the memory stick had been stolen by a P&O employee, who turned it into the police once he realised the pictures of Mrs. Brimble and the men of interest were on it. IT experts were able to retrieve over 150 deleted pictures from it, and by doing so found evidence important to the case.

According to several witnesses' testimonies, the men had spent most of the time on the cruise allegedly propositioning a number of female passengers of varying ages[3]. Among numerous acts of alleged sexual harassment were asking a 15 year old to do an erotic dance in their cabin for cash, entering a cabin of 4 girls uninvited, asking if they were going to the disco where they 'could go down on them' and asking one woman if he could perform oral sex on her among others.

The inquest heard the initial interview that Silvestri had given police in New Caledonia. The interview was taken two days after Mrs. Brimble's death. At that time, Silvestri denied any involvement with Mrs. Brimble. During the interview, Silvestri spoke of Mrs. Brimble in desparaging terms, saying that "she smelt, she was black and she was ugly." Silvestri also described her as "desperate", "an ugly dog" and a "fat thing." Silvestri told the police interviewers that he was angry because Mrs. Brimble ruined his holiday by dying in his cabin. [4]. According to police witness statements, Silvestri allegedly said to another cruise passenger, Allison McKain, that "The b----- is dead, the f---ing b---- is dead. Some s--- went down last night, some top secret s---," and that a woman had died, naked on the floor of their cabin.^[2].

Silvestri told the coronial court that Kuchel told him that Mark Wilhelm had given Mrs. Brimble the drug, and that she took it willingly with full informed consent. However, Wilhelm had written in a signed statement given to a P&O security chief that he had not given any drugs to anyone. In previous testimony given in March, Counsel assisting the coronor, Ron Hoenig, described Mrs. Brimble as being "preyed upon" and asserted that she was impaired in such a way that she could not have given informed consent. At the first inquest in March, Hoenig read statements from family and friends of Mrs. Brimble, citing that she was a "very moral woman" who did not approve of taking drugs or of casual sex [5]. Both Mark Brimble and David Mitchell, her partner/de-facto husband of 14 years, gave evidence to the court pertaining to Mrs. Brimble's character.

Dianne Brimble's family revealed the anguish of Brimble's drug-induced death aboard the Pacific Sky cruise liner in interviews aired on Australian Story on ABC channel.

The coronial court inquest will continue through 2007 [6].

The case has prompted stricter security measures for Australian cruises with the introduction of security sniffer dogs and closed-circuit surveillance cameras throughout ships in the fleet.

[edit] Timeline

Monday, September 23, 2002, at approximately 1700 in Sydney, Australia, Dianna Brimble boards the Pacific Sky cruiseship for a 10 day/9 night cruise to the city of Nouméa, New Caledonia, and the island of Vanuatu. She is accompanied by her sister, Alma Wood, her daughter, Tahlia Marshall, and her niece. The eight "persons of interest" also board the cruiseship. A total of 1500 passengers were on the ship.

Tuesday, September 24, 2002 at approximately 0400, Mrs. Brimble was seen leaving the ship's disco with four of the eight "men of interest": Wilhelm, Silvestri, Losic, and Kuchel. At approximately 0830, the ship's emergency paramedics were called to cabin D182 when attempts by Wilhelm and Silvestri to revive Mrs. Brimble failed. At 0903 Mrs. Brimble is pronounced dead.

Thursday, September 26, 2002 Detectives board the ship while in port in Nouméa, New Caledonia and they begin questioning various witnesses. Mrs. Brimble's body was removed from the ship and transported back to Australia. Her family also disembarked from the ship.

Friday, October 4, 2002. The funeral for Mrs. Brimble was held in Brisbane. Over 250 people attended the services, including former husband, Mark Brimble and her de-facto-husband, David Mitchell.

March 2006. Sydney's Glebe Coronor's Court opens the inquest.

March 9, 2006 Coronor's Inquest begins. Statements were given by family members and several friends of Mrs. Brimble. Statements were also given by several cruise ship passengers, and some cruise ship personnel.

June 16, 2006 Letterio "Leo" Silvestri is the first of the "persons of interest" to take the stand at Glebe Coroners Court.

June 25, 2006 Mark Brimble, Dianne's former husband, became the Australian representative for the USA based group International Cruise Victims Organization.

July 28, 2006 Ryan Kuchel, the second "person of interest" gives testimony to Glebe Coroner's court.

September 11, 2006 The inquest resumes. Betty Wood and Alma Wood, the mother and sister of Dianne Brimble, flew in from Brisbane to attend the inquest. Ryan Kuchel continued to give evidence, as did several members of P&O's security staff. During the week, Petar Pantic and Dragan Losic also gave evidence. Upon finishing his testimony, Pantic made a formal apology to the family of Dianne Brimble.

November 6, 2006 The inquest resumes. Dragan Losic gives testimony. Other witnesses and ship's personnel also give testimony. The family accused police of covering up evidence.