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  US man set to stand trial over wife's death in the British Virgin Islands |
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 | Reported by guardian.co.uk
on Tuesday, 6 October 2009
(on October 6, 2009) |
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Authorities had initially ruled Shelley Tyre's death an accident and turned her body over to husband David SwainA US scuba shop owner and former town councillor goes on trial this week accused of drowning his wife 10 years ago while on a diving trip in the British Virgin Islands.David Swain has been in jail in Tortola for more than two years, since authorities on the tiny Caribbean British overseas territory reopened a murder inquiry after initially ruling Shelley Tyre's death an accident.Swain, 53, maintains his innocence and says he does not know what happened to his wife after the pair separated under the warm water.In March 1999, Swain and Tyre, both experienced divers, took a holiday on Tortola with another couple.
The two families chartered a yacht and spent an idyllic week diving off the coast of the lush, mountainous island.
Tyre, a 46-year-old teacher, was Swain's second wife; they had been married about five years.On the last day of the voyage, Swain and Tyre slipped into the water over two tugboat wrecks.
Swain resurfaced alone several minutes later.
The couple's travelling companion dived under and spotted Tyre's yellow fin embedded in the sand about 80 feet below the surface.
He found Tyre's body a few minutes later, facing up, her eyes open and her scuba mask missing.
Tortola authorities ruled the death an accident and released the body to Swain, who returned to the state of Rhode Island in the US, where the couple lived.By 2002, Tyre's family remained unsatisfied with Swain's explanation of her death, and filed a civil suit accusing him of killing her.
At the trial, Tyre's parents' attorney said that Swain cut off Tyre's air supply and held her underwater until she drowned.
The lawyer said Swain killed her because he was pursuing a relationship with another woman and knew Tyre would leave him with no money if they divorced.Expert witnesses testified that Tyre's broken mask and missing fin, as well as other evidence, indicated she had been deliberately killed."Terminal violence ...
deprived her of her air supply," testified Bruce Hyma, a Florida medical examiner who put Tyre's death down to "homicidal drowning".
Swain put up little defence, presenting only one witness: his daughter from a previous marriage who testified to his peaceable character.
After deliberating for less than three hours, a jury found that Swain intentionally killed Tyre and awarded her family nearly $5m (£3.1m).Authorities in Tortola reopened a criminal investigation and charged Swain with murder.
His family says he is well respected by fellow inmates and he has taught some of his younger cellmates to read.
"I've listened to Dad pour his heart out many times about how much he loves and misses Shelley," his daughter Jennifer Bloom wrote on a website to raise money for his defence.
"He is a kind, thoughtful man who enjoys the smaller details of the outdoors, completely incapable of acts of violence."The affair echoes a case in Australia, where American Gabe Watson was jailed for a year and a half after pleading guilty to manslaughter in connection with the 2003 drowning death of wife Tina on their honeymoon.
Australian prosecutors said Watson turned off his wife's air supply and held her underwater.
Back in the US, officials in Alabama plan to seek capital murder charges against Watson when he is released.
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