UK Wedding News
16/02/2012
After their wedding in 2003, Gabe Watson, 34, and his wife Tina, from Alabama, flew to Australia on vacation.
Watson is accused of drowning his wife in a scuba incident but his defence lawyers claim it was an accident.
Watson has already served 18 months in jail in Australia after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
He was extradited to the US after Alabama agreed to waive the death penalty.
"The whole case is not just about murder, but murder and gain," Assistant Alabama Attorney General Andrew Arrington said. "He took her engagement ring as his last act of contact with her on this earth."
Mr Arrington told jurors that Watson would gain more than $200,000 (£127,300) in insurance money if his wife died. Mr Arrington believes this is the motive that drove him to allegedly switch off his new bride's scuba mask oxygen supply and hold her until she drowned.
Jurors viewed an underwater photo taken by another diver at the scene allegedly showing Watson swimming to the surface as his wife was sprawled in the water.
Brett Bloomston, Watson's lawyer, claimed Tina panicked and knocked off his diving mask, forcing him to swim to the surface without her. He said it was an accident misinterpreted by the Australian police, noting they took a problem with Watson's dive computer as evidence of possible guilt and viewed new evidence with that in mind.
Mr Bloomston dismissed the financial motive for murder. He said her life insurance policy was worth $33,000, not $165,000, a travel policy only covered the cost of the honeymoon.
"This is a tragic case. What's even more tragic is the blame Gabe has had to live with this last number of years," he said.
It was agreed that the dive instructor failed to follow his own rules, allowing Tina to proceed to the reef without an orientation dive or test-run.
It was noted that Watson assured the instructor that his rescue certification would provide ample protection.
(GK/DW)
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Scuba Honeymoon Murder Trial Begins
A man accused of murdering his wife by shutting off her oxygen tank while scuba diving on honeymoon has gone on trail, The BBC reports.After their wedding in 2003, Gabe Watson, 34, and his wife Tina, from Alabama, flew to Australia on vacation.
Watson is accused of drowning his wife in a scuba incident but his defence lawyers claim it was an accident.
Watson has already served 18 months in jail in Australia after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
He was extradited to the US after Alabama agreed to waive the death penalty.
"The whole case is not just about murder, but murder and gain," Assistant Alabama Attorney General Andrew Arrington said. "He took her engagement ring as his last act of contact with her on this earth."
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Mr Arrington told jurors that Watson would gain more than $200,000 (£127,300) in insurance money if his wife died. Mr Arrington believes this is the motive that drove him to allegedly switch off his new bride's scuba mask oxygen supply and hold her until she drowned.
Jurors viewed an underwater photo taken by another diver at the scene allegedly showing Watson swimming to the surface as his wife was sprawled in the water.
Brett Bloomston, Watson's lawyer, claimed Tina panicked and knocked off his diving mask, forcing him to swim to the surface without her. He said it was an accident misinterpreted by the Australian police, noting they took a problem with Watson's dive computer as evidence of possible guilt and viewed new evidence with that in mind.
Mr Bloomston dismissed the financial motive for murder. He said her life insurance policy was worth $33,000, not $165,000, a travel policy only covered the cost of the honeymoon.
"This is a tragic case. What's even more tragic is the blame Gabe has had to live with this last number of years," he said.
It was agreed that the dive instructor failed to follow his own rules, allowing Tina to proceed to the reef without an orientation dive or test-run.
It was noted that Watson assured the instructor that his rescue certification would provide ample protection.
(GK/DW)
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