| Tina Watson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Christina Mae Thomas 13 February 1977 Landstuhl, Rhineland-Palatinate, West Germany |
| Died | 22 October 2003 (aged 26) Great Barrier Reef Townsville, Queensland Australia |
| Cause of death | Drowning |
| Resting place | Southern Heritage Cemetery, Pelham, Alabama, United States |
| Residence | Helena, Alabama, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Communication studies |
| Alma mater | University of Alabama at Birmingham |
| Occupation | Public relations, model |
| Employer | Parisian |
| Known for | Homicide victim |
| Height | 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m) |
| Weight | 133 lb (60 kg) |
| Religion | Southern Baptist |
| Spouse | David Gabriel "Gabe" Watson |
| Parents | William "Tommy" Thomas Cindy Thomas |
| Relatives | Alanda Thomas (sister) |
| Website | |
| Tina's Story | |
Christina Mae "Tina" Thomas Watson, a 26-year-old American from Alabama, died while scuba diving on her honeymoon in Queensland, Australia on 22 October 2003. She had been married to Gabe Watson for 11 days. He was subsequently imprisoned for her manslaughter.
Contents |
David Gabriel "Gabe" Watson met Tina Thomas while they were students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Tina took beginning diving lessons and earned her certification just before the two were married in October 2003. Watson, a certified rescue diver, had planned a scuba trip in the Great Barrier Reef for their honeymoon.
During an excursion on the dive boat Spoilsport to the site of the SS Yongala, a passenger ship that sank in 1911, Tina lost consciousness and sank to the bottom, 100 feet (30 m) below the water's surface within two minutes of beginning the dive. Watson claimed the currents were stronger than they expected and that he responded to a signal from her to return to the dive rope where he noted a look of worry on her face before she accidentally knocked his mask loose. When he recovered his sight, she was sinking too quickly for him to retrieve her and he surfaced to get help. He also stated that an ear problem prevented him from diving deeper to help her and that there was nothing in his training as a rescue diver "about how to get somebody" in trouble to the surface[1][2] Other divers were nearby at the time, including Dr Stanley Stutz, who saw Watson engaged in an underwater "bear hug" with his "flailing" wife, after which he headed for the surface while his wife fell to the ocean floor. A fellow diver, Gary Stempler, photographed Watson by chance while taking a picture of his wife that showed Tina in the background. This picture revealed Tina when she was lying on the ocean floor, something that did not come to light until a couple of weeks later when the pictures were developed.[3] Watson climbed aboard the Spoilsport and alerted dive instructor Wade Singleton, who brought Tina to the surface. She was taken aboard the adjacent dive boat Jazz II, where a doctor tried to resuscitate her while Watson remained on the Spoilsport.[4]
The day following Tina's death, an autopsy was performed by Professor David Williams, consultant forensic pathologist to the Queensland Coroner. Williams found florid evidence of air embolism, but no degenerative disease. He gave the cause of death as drowning.[5]
As Tina Watson's death was unexpected, it was investigated by State Coroner's office. A coronial inquiry was held, as is the usual practice in Australia. Gabe Watson gave evidence to the inquest through his lawyers and to the Queensland police.
The incident came under investigation due to the implausible and conflicting statements given by Watson. He declined to return to Australia and did not testify during the inquest. During the inquest, prosecutors submitted evidence that Watson's story contradicted the record of his actions stored by his dive computer. They suggested the possibility that he turned off Tina's air regulator and held her until she was unconscious, then turned the air back on and let her sink before surfacing himself. As evidence, they described painstaking multiple re-enactments of various scenarios conducted by police divers. Tina's father claimed Watson had asked his daughter to increase her life insurance and make him the sole beneficiary shortly before their wedding. The insurance company confirmed Watson had twice emailed questions about its dive insurance policies before the honeymoon and had asked about her insurance shortly after Tina's death. Watson also claimed hundreds of thousands of dollars from a travel insurance policy.[6][7]
In March 2005, Watson launched legal action in Alabama's Jefferson County Circuit Court to recoup the cost of their trip after the travel insurance company refused a payout. He was seeking $45,000 for the accidental death plus compensation for trip interruption, medical expenses, phone calls, taxi fares, fees for extra credit card statements and unspecified punitive damages for mental and emotional anguish. The action was dismissed in May 2008 at Watson's request on the grounds the Australian investigation into his wife's death caused him "to reasonably apprehend that he risks self-incrimination in this case". His Australian legal team believed "it was not in his best interest" to pursue the damages claim and Watson's US-based lawyer, Bob Austin, added that his client would not be voluntarily "going back to Australia".[8]
On 19 June 2008, the Coroner laid the following charge:
That on the 22nd day of October 2003 at the site of the historical shipwreck Yongala forty-eight nautical miles south east from the port of Townsville in the state of Queensland David Gabriel Watson murdered Christina Mae Watson.
It has been falsely reported that the Coroner found "that Watson likely killed his 26-year-old wife by turning off her air supply and holding her in an "underwater bear hug" until she was dead."[9] The Coroner made no such finding.[10]
| David Gabriel "Gabe" Watson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 5 March 1977 |
| Charge(s) | Murder |
| Conviction(s) | Manslaughter |
| Penalty | 4.5 years, to be suspended after 1.5 years |
| Status | Released and deported |
| Occupation | Salesman |
| Spouse | Tina Thomas (11 days) Kim Lewis |
| Parents | David Watson Glenda Watson |
The Queensland state coroner found in 2008 evidence regarded as enough to try Watson for murder. He travelled voluntarily from the United States to Australia in May 2009 to face trial.
At the trial on 5 June 2009, Watson pleaded not guilty to murder and guilty to manslaughter. He was convicted of manslaughter. Crown prosecutor Brendan Campbell pointed out that over time Watson had given police 16 different versions of what had happened to Tina and that none of those versions matched what the only eyewitness had seen. When Tina was brought to the surface her respirator was still in her mouth, the air tank was full and tests indicated no faults with her equipment. The prosecutor described Watson as an experienced diver trained in rescuing panicked divers, who had allowed his wife to sink to the ocean floor without making any serious attempt to retrieve her. He did not inflate her buoyancy vest or remove weights from her belt, and failed in his duty as her dive buddy by not sharing his (alternate) air with her.[4]
The prosecutor said Watson unlawfully killed Tina by failing in duty of care to fulfill his obligations as her "dive buddy" during the scuba dive. He said that when Tina grabbed for his air supply he did not give it to her and then swam away from her as she sank to the bottom of the sea bed. Gabe was sentenced to four and a half years in jail, to be suspended after serving 12 months.
Tina's family said her husband's one-year jail sentence was an embarrassment to Australia.[11]
The day following the trial, Alabama Attorney-General Troy King vowed to lodge an appeal with the Queensland Supreme Court. King also wrote to the Queensland Attorney-General, Cameron Dick. Fairfax Newspapers reported that the letter was leaked to them and published part of it.[12]
The Queensland Director of Public Prosecutions, Tony Moynihan SC, issued a statement the next business day, which said: "The decision to accept Mr Watson’s plea of guilty to manslaughter was made after a careful and thorough examination of the admissible evidence, and was not taken lightly. Given the complex circumstantial nature of the case, Mr Watson’s admission that he breached his duty to render assistance to his wife ultimately meant there was no reasonable prospect of proving, beyond a reasonable doubt, that he was guilty of murder." [13]
On 18 June 2009, Dick announced the state would appeal against the inadequacy of Watson's sentence.[14]
The appeal was heard by the Queensland Court of Appeals on 17 July 2009. The Crown asked the court to increase the prison time Watson must serve to two-and-a-half years. The defence argued that as Watson had made a momentary lapse of judgment, had suffered years of being accused of a crime he did not commit and had voluntarily returned to Australia to co-operate with the court, the penalty imposed by the trial judge was fair and just.[15] The findings on appeal were handed down on 18 September 2009. Two members voted to increase Watson's period of incarceration by six months to a total of 18 months, which was enacted. One justice by minority opinion was in favour of dismissing the appeal.[16]
In May 2010, Alabama Attorney-General Troy King announced he had information not yet made public and wanted to try Watson for capital murder. King has petitioned Australia for the evidence held by police but has been refused access until he gives an undertaking that the death penalty will not be imposed as required under Australian law. This condition has been strongly criticised by King and Don Valeska, chief of the attorney-general's violent crime division, who stated: "If an Australian woman was killed here, we would immediately send the evidence there. We would not presume to tell the Australian authorities how to run their criminal justice system".[17] In response to the announcement, Watson's parents came to the defence of their son, breaking their public silence on the case. Friends and family of Watson questioned whether he had any motive for the murder noting, that his affection for Tina had seemed genuine, there was no life insurance policy naming him as beneficiary and he appeared to be emotionally devastated for an extended time following Tina's death.[18]
In June 2010 King assured the Queensland Attorney-General he would not seek the death penalty if Gabe Watson was tried in the US for the death of his wife.[19]
In August 2010, it was announced Watson would be released in November and likely be deported to the US, where he may be charged with murder. Valeska stated he would also pursue an additional charge of kidnapping by deception.[20] The case will be put before a grand jury in Birmingham, Alabama in October 2010.[21]
Watson was released from prison at 6.30am on 10 November 2010. He was transferred to an immigration detention centre while his deportation was delayed.[22] During this time Australian authorities sought further written assurances from the US Attorney General that he would not face the death penalty in Alabama if convicted of murder. Under international human rights law, Australia could not deport Watson if he faced execution in his home country.[23] On 25 November 2010 Watson was deported to the United States where he was immediately arrested.[24]
Prosecutors in Alabama have laid murder charges against Watson at the conclusion of his prison sentence in Australia, as expected, after finding what they claim is evidence he plotted to kill Tina while living in the United States.[25] A Birmingham grand jury indicted Watson on murder charges in October 2010 and in July 2011, the Circuit Court set the trial date of 13 February 2012. Watson is free on bond pending trial.[2]
Colin McKenzie, a key diving expert in the original investigation who had maintained that "a diver with Watson's training should have been able to bring Tina up," has retracted much of his testimony after being provided with Tina and Gabe's diver logs, certificates and medical histories to which he had not previously had access. McKenzie now believes that Watson should not have been allowed in the water and never as a dive buddy for his wife who had no open water scuba experience. Tina Watson had had heart surgery to correct an irregular heartbeat two years earlier but on her dive application had stated that she had never had heart problems or surgery. Professor Mike Bennett, regarded as one of the world's leading experts in dive medicine, stated that Tina was unfit to dive without clearance from a cardiologist. Gabe Watson had received his rescue certification, normally a four day course, after completing a two day course in an Alabama quarry. Not only had his rescue certificate expired but he had no rescue experience and very little open water experience.[26][27]
According to McKenzie "He had no hope of being competent, he could barely save himself [that day] let alone his wife, I don't believe he intended to kill her." Revelations that Watson needed help to don his diving equipment that day underscored that he was a "dangerous amateur" who showed "a complete lack of courage" when he abandoned his wife.[26][27]
The dive company had offered an orientation and guided dive with a dive master, which both Tina and Gabe Watson refused. Company head Mike Ball said his people took Watson at his word, believing he was an experienced and certified rescue diver. The company later pleaded guilty to contravening safety standards and was fined $6500, plus costs of $1500.[26][27]
Tina Watson is buried in Pelham, Alabama. Her remains were exhumed moved in 2007 to a different lot bought by Watson.[28] After being informed by her family that flowers and gifts were repeatedly being vandalized or disappearing from the grave site, even when chained down, a police officer investigated. On hidden surveillance videos, he witnessed Watson removing them with bolt cutters and throwing them in rubbish bins.[29] Tina's grave was unmarked until 2009 when Watson provided it with a foot marker prompting her father to request her body be returned for reburial. In 2011, the Probate Court removed Watson as administrator of Tina's estate, appointing her father who also wants her school and college pictures and yearbooks returned. Watson has appealed against the ruling and refused to provide the court with an inventory of Tina's possessions. Pending Watson's trial, the Circuit Court has ordered him to stay away from Tina's grave.[30]
On 15 August 2008 Watson married Kim Lewis. Reporters have described her as a "Tina Watson lookalike".[31]
A feature on the death of Tina Watson was broadcast in a 90-minute account that aired on Dateline NBC on 19 May 2008.[32]
An examination of Tina Watson's death and Gabe Watson's subsequent trial and appeal was published by The Age on 17 July 2010. The author was Walkley Award winning investigative journalist, Peter Patrick.[33]