Cruise Ship Drug Overdose
Dianne Brimble - Drug Overdose - Death
P & O Cruise Lines - September 23, 2002
Hart said two days after the death he was smoking a cigarette on the deck near a group of three men and a woman when a "large gentleman" , he identified as Dragan Losic, approached him, acted agressively, standing chest to chest, and told him to F--- off. He identified one of the other three men as Petar Pantic. He said Losic was trying to intimidate him, and repeatedly to F--- off. When Hart said he worked on the ship, Losic left. The woman has been located, and will testify.
Hart also testified that he spoke with Dianne Brimble friend, Gamu Chard who was from Papuan New Guinea. He says he asked Chard how she had died, and he indicated he didn't know but told him that Dianne had scratches all over her.
Wilhelm Tries To Avoid Appearance
Also at the inquest, Deputy State Coroner Jacqueline Milledge said she was unlikely to find in favor of a submission made by the lawyer for Mr Wilhelm, who is trying to avoid giving evidence on the grounds he may incriminate himself.
Mr Wilhelm's lawyer, Henry Heuzenroeder, submitted that the coronial proceedings came under the jurisdiction of the federal Crimes at Sea Act, which brought with it an obligation to meet the requirements of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. One such requirement was to not require people to give evidence against their will which might tend to incriminate them, Mr Heuzenroeder said.
Jacqueline Milledge found the Crimes at Sea Act did not apply, and she ordered Wilhelm to appear for testimony. However, she can not order him to speak. If Mr Wilhelm refused to give evidence on the grounds of self-incrimination when he appeared, Ms Milledge said she would then consider whether to issue him an immunity certificate. Wilhelm now says he can no longer afford legal counsel.
P&O Night Manager Kathleen Ann Taylor Testifies
P & O night manager Kathleen Ann Taylor, photo here, tells the court that the only report she received the night Dianne Brimble died was of Wilhelm running naked in the corridor. She says that is not unusual. She says that kind of thing happens all the time, sometimes she sees naked passengers in public areas 15 or 20 twenty times a night. "If you were to write up every person that was running around naked there would be 15 to 20 (security) log books,"
Taylor also told the inquest one of her security guards, Olsen Va'afusuaga, was caught socialising with passengers while on duty the night Brimble died. She said he told her Brimble was sitting with him and a group of men at the ship's Starlight Disco. Taylor said Va'afusuaga told her: "Some guy asked her for a massage and she said no, and he swore at her." The security guard then allegedly told the man that he should not speak to women that way.The security guard allegedly said: "We don't speak to ladies like that around here."
She further testified that she came into contact with Mark Wilhelm after Dianne's death and that he was crying and saying what a good person Dianne was and that he was a good person, and that the had never been in trouble. He also told her that he and Silvestri had consensual sex with Dianne, and that he had tried to shave her pubic area. He said it wasn't until after he got her into the shower that he realized she wasn't breathing.
She said Mark Wilhelm came to her a second a time, and he was upset that time as well. She says he told her, "I can't stand it anymore. The passengers are treating me like a murderer. The guys in my group are pissed off because I won't keep my mouth shut". He requested to change his statement. She testified further that Mr Wilhelm then told her he had been "fooling around" with Mrs Brimble. Then according to Wilhelm, he left the room and returned a short time later to find Mrs Brimble lying on the floor. He and Mr Silvestri then dragged her into the shower because "she stank".
Kathleen Taylor said after Dianne died, she heard another person of interest, Letterio Silvestri, tell passengers "we f----d her, kicked her out of bed and she died".
The Sexist Postcard
The inquest was also shown a P & O promotional postcard, by Brimble family attorney James Stevens, that seemed to send the wrong message to potential male passengers. The front of the postcard pictured a row of bikini clad women with the description "Seamen Wanted". The back of the postcard said: "More girls, more sun, more fun. There's nothing else a guy needs to know."
The postcard was printed in 2003, after the death of Mrs Brimble, and has the phone number of travel agency Jetset.
Deputy state coroner Jacqueline Milledge labelled the ads sexist and offensive.
Mike Hatton, of the Australian Federation of Travel Agents, said: "We only market what P&O give us. Most of the ads put in the papers come from P&O with our agents names on it."
Taken in the actual definition of the word "seamen", if seen by potential crew members, the postcard may be seen as indicating the SEAMEN will have access to ready, willing, young, female passengers.
Waves Of Anger Over Sexist P&O Ads
Women's Health New South Wales executive officer, Denele Crozier, said that the postcards encouraged men to treat women like a piece of meat. New South Wales Rape Crisis Centre manager Karen Willis described them as "misogynistic" and "sexist in the extreme".
Mr Stevens said the card, which he believed was still in circulation, promoted "orgies with bikini-clad women", and the company was "trying to convince the public these bikini-clad women are happy to oblige".
It has been said, this is a double entendre playing the spoken word "seamen" which when spoken, could also be thought to be semen. The message conveyed, is the cruise will have young women, nearly naked, who were ready, willing and able for sex. The color scheme of the "Seamen Wanted", red and white, matches the red and white bikinis, showing pounds of exposed breasts on the young women. There seems to be subliminal messaging there. The post card is clearly targeted to men, in search of eager single women.
Vial Family - Sex Partner
Bobby Jo Vial is qualified to give evidence because she's actually an animal keeper at Taronga Zoo, and she joked that she looks after predators for a living.
Another witness came forward. She testified that she had a sexual relationship onboard the Pacific Sky, with Mark Wilhelm, only a few days after Dianne Brimble had died in his cabin.
The woman who was 19 years old at the time, Bobby Jo Vial, told the court that Mark Wilhelm denied having sex with Dianne Brimble at all when the spoke about her death. He claimed he only "fooled around" with her.
However, as posted earlier in this case, Wilhelm told investigators he and Silvestri had consensual sex with Dianne Brimble. She said Wilhelm seemed upset over Dianne's death, and referred to it as an "overdose".
