Cruise Ship Drug Overdose
Dianne Brimble - Drug Overdose - Death
P & O Cruise Lines - September 23, 2002
This day's testimony racks up even more conflicting testimony by Wilhelm and Silverstri.
Read - P & O Whistle Blower Comes Forward - Here
Silvestri Testifies Again
Silvestri's attorney tried an unsuccessful bid to gag his further testimony from the press, saying his client couldn't get a fair trial. The request for the gag was denied, under the grounds that no trial was pending, at this time, for Silvestri.
Silvestri's testimony was toned down today, as far as comments regarding Dianne Brimble. Silverstri had described the attractive Dianne Brimble as a "dog", "ugly" and "fat" by his standards.
On that note, Criuse Bruise is shocked at the advertising found under Dianne's photo on the Sydney Morning Herald. Right directly below her photo are three distasteful diet ads, that could not possibly be more inappropriate or degrading to an already severely degraded Dianne Brimble. The ads were for Jenny Craig, eDiets, and the Atkins Diet plan.
The insensitive diet ads while right below her photo, are right beside the statement ... "Silvestri, who earned public disgrace in June when it emerged that he told police investigating Mrs Brimble's death that she was a dog..."
The placement of the diet ads is only the last in long string of "public disgraces" that have surfaced in this case. This is the second time inappropriate ads have surfaced in the Dianne Brimble case. The first was a P & O ad. The topic is here
Daniel Wells tesifies - P & O Security Officer
September 10, 2006, testimony continued with security officer Daniel Wells testifiying. The officer says he had been on the job about 10 months when we saw Mr Losic had placed what appeared to be a tablet on the tongue of Petar Pantic while in the ship's nightclub a few nights after Mrs Brimble died.
He could not verify if the substance was an illegal drug or not. He said he was five metres away and while it ''looked like an ecstasy tablet'', it could have been a Tic-Tac, Smartie or M&M. He made a note of the incident, and reported it to his superior and a New South Wales police officer who was on board to investigate Mrs Brimble's death.
Wells said he had "no doubt whatsoever" that he passed the information to both night manager Anne Taylor and Senior Constable Ozen.
Sen-Constable Ozen's identity is still under suppression by the court but Deputy State Coroner Jacqueline Milledge yesterday told lawyers representing him that that situation would not last much longer.
Counsel assisting the inquest, Ron Hoenig, said a report provided by a psychiatrist was "not sufficient to excuse him" from attending court and giving evidence.
He also said he had to single out Mr Losic and another man of interest, Leo Silvestri, for bad behavior on the first night of the cruise. He says Losic was on the dance floor, with no shirt on and was bumping into people.
After he spoke to him, Losic sat down and using both hands, flipped him the bird. "He sat back in his chair, raised both his [middle] fingers and told me to 'get f-----'
He then asked Losic and another man, Mark Wilhelm, to go outside on the deck where Mr Wells said he told Losic: "Big fella, you're not off to a good start. This is only the first night of the cruise and we're having problems."
He also told the court he later saw Leo Silvestri dancing on a back deck of the ship wearing a life jacket. He told him to remove the safety equipment, and he complied.
Ryan Kuchel Testifies
Ryan Kuchel, a person of interest, testifies again. He says he meant Dianne in the disco. She wanted to dance, and he says he was pretty "tanked" by then, and just wanted to go back to the cabin to sleep.
Kuchel said he awoke during the night after hearing a man and a woman having sex in the bed above him. He said he left the room, chatted with some other passengers and fell asleep in the corridor, returning to his cabin later in the morning.
When he returned, a doctor was in the room attending to Dianne, who he says he did not recognize, and he was told to leave the room at that time.
Kuchel admits lying to police during the initial investigation and indicated he lied because Wilhelm asked him to lie. In the initial interview, he told police he and his friends thought she had died of a heart attack, and some of them were anxious about rumours that were circulating on the ship about her death. He says that statement was not truthful.
It becomes clear Kuchel can't keep his stories straight. On Tuesday he testified he heard Mrs Brimble say “I’ll try some” when offered the drug by Mr Wilhelm. But, the next day, he flips and says Wilhelm was "a bit of a deviant" and admitted "it's possible'' Mrs Brimble was given the drug fantasy without her knowledge. Wednesday Kuchel said he did not see or hear Mrs Brimble respond to Mr Wilhelm’s offer of fantasy on board the P&O cruise ship Pacific Sky on September 24, 2002.
“I did not hear a response,” he said.
He was reinterviewed in May 2006. Neither then or in 2003 did Kuchel mention he knew Mrs Brimble had taken the date-rape drug Fantasy, supplied to her by his friend Mark Wilhelm.
Kuchel said that Wilhelm had the kind of extreme personality that would allow him to do anything, including suicide.
Ryan Kuchel, completed his evidence after admitting "it's possible" Mrs Brimble was given the date-rape drug fantasy without her knowledge.
Kuchel told the inquest he had discussed the events of the incident with another man of interest in the case, Leo Silvestri, as well as Mr Wilhelm before Silvestri gave evidence in court. Kuchel said Mr Wilhelm didn't mind if people knew he had taken ecstasy tablets onto the ship, but did not want anyone to know he had used fantasy.
Petar Pantic Tesifies
Mr Pantic, represented by veteran Victorian QC Peter Hayesa former is a former Adelaide nightclub bouncer, security guard and martial arts expert. He spent almost two days in the witness box at Sydney's Glebe Coroner's Court. Panic said, "I don't recall'' more than 50 times in less than two hours of evidence at the inquest into her death. He was giving evidence under protection of a certificate, ensuring this evidence cannot be used to prosecute him of any offence later.
Pantic told the court he was "pretty disappointed'' that Wilhelm's action had landed him and his friend in the middle of the controversy.
September 14, 2006, Pantic says he was the first to realize that Dianne was in trouble. He says he saw Dianne and Whilhelm having sex, but denied photographing them. Kuchel says that Panic took the photographs.
Pantic says he was embarrased for both Dianne and Mark Wilhem, when he walked into the cabin and saw them naked in bed "Mark met her for a total of five minutes or ten minutes and he was in bed with her - plus Mark had a girlfriend," he told the Glebe's Coronerc's Court.
