http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2343859,00.htmlDiver faces murder charge
20/06/2008 07:29 - (SA)
In this 2003 photo, Christina Watson is seen lying on the sea floor as other divers rush to her aid. Her husband has been charged with her murder. (Queensland Police, AP)
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Sydney - A coroner in Australia issued a warrant for the arrest of a US diver on Friday and recommended that he be charged with the murder of his wife, who died while on honeymoon on the Great Barrier Reef five years ago.
Christina Watson drowned on October 22, 2003, during a dive off the north Queensland coast with husband Gabriel Watson.
Townsville coroner David Glasgow on Friday committed Watson to stand trial on one charge of murder in the Supreme Court in Townsville. The date of the trial is yet to be fixed.
Rejecting an assertion from Watson's attorney, Steve Zillman, that his client had been denied the presumption of innocence by the police and media, Glasgow was quoted as saying by Australia's AAP news agency, "I've seen no evidence of that."
The inquiry also rejected the theory that Christina's death was caused by a pre-existing medical condition, her having vomited into a breathing apparatus, or anxiety or panic.
Extradition proceedings
Watson did not attend the inquest, but Christina's parents and family hugged and cried as they watched the inquiry's decision via video link in Alabama, US.
Queensland Police want to begin extradition proceedings of Watson from the US as soon as possible.
"There are lengthy legal procedures that are involved but obviously we are keen they will be done as quickly as possible," Townsville regional crime co-ordinator Detective Inspector Warren Webber was quoted as saying by AAP.
John Tate, the lawyer assisting the coronial inquest, on Thursday had called for Watson to be charged with murder.
"The account given by Mr David Gabriel Watson does not stand against the evidence nor the inquiries made subsequently by police," Tate was quoted as saying by AAP. "There are too many unanswered questions."
A witness told the inquest the couple embraced in 15-metre-deep water before separating and moving in different directions.
May have turned oxygen supply off
The witness said Watson swam to the surface while his wife sank to the ocean floor. It was suggested that Watson turned off his wife's oxygen supply, restrained her in what appeared to be an embrace, then turned the valve back on when she was dead or nearly dead.
Zillman had said Watson didn't have a reason to kill his new wife.
An post-mortem didn't shed any light on the drowning. Her scuba diving equipment was not found to be faulty.
In a videotaped statement to the police, Watson, who was a certified rescue diver, had described watching his wife sink, her arms stretched toward him. He said he raised the alarm when he reached the surface.
It was not Watson who retrieved the body of his wife but another diver who had spotted her body on the sea floor only a few minutes after the couple began their dive. - Sapa-dpa
Topic: American scuba diver murders his wife on honeymoon in Australia (Read 697 times)