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Diane Brimble

For two years, Dianne had saved to take a cruise around the South Pacific. Although she was the mother of three, she was only able to save enough to take her youngest daughter, Tahlia, with her on the trip of a lifetime….

On September 23rd, 2002, the P&O Pacific Sky departed Sydney, Australia. Dianne and Tahlia boarded the ship, along with Dianne’s sister, Alma

Wood, and Alma’s daughter, Kari Ann. All four had planned to share a cabin for the 10-day/9-night cruise.

As they embarked on their cruise, Dianne and her accompanying family members enjoyed a “sail-away” party, which gave them a chance to relax, have a couple of cocktails, and watch the sun go down. Following the party, they decided to have dinner and talk about their plans for the following day. After dinner, Alma, Kari Ann, and Tahlia decided to head back to the cabin and call it an early night. Dianne accompanied them back to the cabin to kiss Tahlia “goodnight”, and later left for the nightclub.

The following morning, Alma realized that Dianne had not returned to their cabin. At breakfast-time, Alma had her paged but was later called to the ship’s Medical Centre, where she was told that Dianne had passed away. Her naked body had been found on the floor of a cabin, occupied by four unknown men.

As the cruise continued on to Noumea, Dianne’s daughter, sister, and niece, were forced to endure an additional two days on the ship, before they could disembark and fly back home to Australia. At the same time, remaining family members in Australia had been provided with no other details, other than the fact that Dianne had died.

It wasn’t until detectives boarded the ship in Noumea and continued on the cruise that her family members become suspicious about the circumstances surrounding Dianne’s demise.

After a number of weeks, the family finally learned that Dianne had consumed a large amount of GHB or GBH (Great Bodily Harm – A date-rape drug also known as Liquid Fantasy), which contributed to her death. This “so-called” fact, combined with a litany of delays and excuses, made it extremely difficult for the family to comprehend exactly what had taken place.

A Coroner’s inquestonly began in Sydney, Australia, in March 2006. The investigation into Dianne’s cause of death is still underway, which has currently uncovered a number of dreadful circumstances surrounding her death. There is no doubt that something happened to Dianne over which she had no control. The cruise operator has a number of questions that still need to be answered. Hopefully, those answers will be presented when the inquest resumes on June 13th, 2006.

The family’s reasons for posting this story are to…

Highlight the circumstances, surrounding Dianne’s assault and death. Stop this same tragedy from happening to other cruise passengers. Contribute to changing current cruise line security procedures. Ensure that any individuals responsible, who may have had an involvement or the ability to have prevented Dianne’s death, be held.

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The Cruise Ship Death Of Dianne Brimble

On the 23rd of September 2002, Dianne Brimble stepped aboard what should have been a ten-day cruise through New Caledonia and Vanuatu with her family. But within less than 24 hours, Dianne was found unconscious, in a strangers room.

The cabin belonged to four men, travelling as part of a bigger group of eight. The Adelaide Eight, as they’d soon become known. A group of young men ready to indulge in the vices of the infamous party cruise industry. 

The death of Dianne Brimble exposed a dangerous culture on board these ships, but the mystery surrounding her final hours would lead to a search for answers for the better part of a decade.  

THE END BITS

Subscribe to Mamamia

Guest: Geesche Jacobsen 

You can find out more about her book Abandoned here.

Host: Emma Gillespie

Executive Producer : Gia Moylan

Junior Producer : Cassie Merritt

Audio Producer: Rhiannon Mooney

GET IN TOUCH:

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at [email protected]   

Join our closed Facebook community to discuss this episode. Just search True Crime Conversations on Facebook or follow this link  https://bit.ly/tcc-group  

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via  Lifeline  on 13 11 14 or  Beyond Blue  on 1300 22 4636

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

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The Dianne Brimble Case eight years on

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Erica Vowles: If you give someone you've just met illegal drugs and they subsequently die, are you legally responsible for their death? Does it matter if it happens at sea?

On 23rd September, 2002, 42-year-old Dianne Brimble boarded the cruise liner Pacific Sky for what was to be a holiday of a lifetime. Less than 24 hours later, medical staff called to a cabin occupied by Mark Wilhelm and three other men, found Dianne freshly showered and lying on the floor. Her heart had stopped.

An autopsy revealed high levels of alcohol and the presence of GHB, or Fantasy. GHB is an illegal drug that is sometimes used recreationally. It's also been used in date rape.

A mother of three, Dianne Brimble was a fun, generous-spirited woman with a beautiful dazzling smile. She loved to dance and she chatted comfortably with strangers. Still, claims that she'd been found in the cabin of a man she'd met only hours before, and that she'd had sexual relations with two of the cabin's occupants, were shocking. To her family and friends, she was considered conservative about things like sex and drugs.

Eight years on, despite all manslaughter charges being dropped, the long-running legal saga continues.

Geesche Jacobsen is the Crime Editor at The Sydney Morning Herald and author of just-published book, Abandoned: The sad death of Dianne Brimble .

A warning, this interview contains sexual references and covers some upsetting topics.

Geesche Jacobsen: We knew a lot, but we don't know everything about what led to Dianne Brimble's death, but we know that she went on the cruise and on the first night, met some of a group of eight men from Adelaide who were travelling together. And she drank and talked with them in the night club. And at about a quarter past four that morning, she left the night club with Mark Wilhelm, and returned to the cabin that he shared with three other people. There they had sex, there are photos of that, it's been said that they had the drug GHB, and eventually she was found on the cabin floor. Now from some photos we also know that she initially lay next to Leo Silvestri on his bed and he had said he'd kicked her and she'd fallen on the floor. She was then also photographed on the floor, having defecated.

Erica Vowles: And also in addition to Dianne Brimble having sex with Mark Wilhelm, according to t he men she also performed oral sex on Leo Silvestri.

Geesche Jacobsen: That's right. And she allegedly also performed oral sex on Mark Wilhelm before they even made it to the cabin.

Erica Vowles: So after Dianne Brimble had defecated, it's important to note that the two men decided to shower her and it was only after showering her and then dressing her that they called a nurse. So you could say that crucial evidence at this stage was tampered with.

Geesche Jacobsen: Yes. Mark Wilhelm went back to the cabin and asked Leo Silvestri to help, and they then showered her, to try and wake her and both men said they felt they could still feel a pulse. Was crucial evidence tampered with? Well there has been no evidence or no suggestion that she had been sexually assaulted. So maybe there was no evidence of that. So I'm not sure I necessarily agree with that, though of course the showering delayed the calling of medical help.

Erica Vowles: I guess prior to this go to the inquest and going to a trial, it would be concerning to anyone to know that a woman was found dead in a cabin, having been showered by two men before help was called for. That's going to ring alarm bells.

Geesche Jacobsen: Indeed. As I said the men explained that they had done this because they thought she was affected by alcohol. They thought, 'If we just put her under the water and wake her up, she'll be all right. We can still feel a pulse.' So at that stage, they didn't seem to be as alarmed as perhaps they should have been about her wellbeing.

Erica Vowles: But one can see how that does paint a bad picture.

Geesche Jacobsen: The doctor who was asked about this said very drily 'It's not part of the usual resuscitation guidelines to shower someone.'

Erica Vowles: Dianne Brimble died at sea; how did this impact the way the investigation was handled first by the crew of the ship when it came to things like securing the crime scene?

Geesche Jacobsen: P&O had procedures in place for what to do with a crime scene, but it seemed they weren't followed, and they've since been tightened up a lot. The fact that they were at sea meant while they had passengers who needed to be accommodated, they at that stage, had no idea that police would be coming on board, so potentially it would have been another nine days before they were back in Australian waters and something could be done. So that was a concern for P&O, and it meant they allowed the men into their room to get their possessions, which potentially destroyed any evidence that might have been there.

Erica Vowles: Back in Australia, police had to work out who had jurisdiction over this boat that was going to slip into international waters. So how did they work out whose jurisdiction it was going to fall under?

Geesche Jacobsen: The police sought advice from anyone and everyone, and they were told while the ship was in Australian waters, they could act, they could give instructions such as the fact that the cabins should be sealed, but that once it was in international waters, police really had no special powers on board. Since the inquest, that has come under question and I think the agreed wisdom now is that even in international waters, police could have searched the cabin of the man that remained on board and the new cabin that they had been relocated to, because the Captain retained a right to enter the cabin of any passenger, and therefore he could have let police in.

Erica Vowles: But at the time when the police eventually made their way onto the ship, and I believe that was at Noumea, they still seemed to be a little bit uncertain of their jurisdictional powers as detectives and some rooms weren't searched.

Geesche Jacobsen: The room in which Dianne Brimble died was searched, but that had been pretty much cleaned out. But yes, the rooms that the men were now residing in and the other four of the group of eight had stayed in for the whole time, were not searched by police because they were under the belief that they had no powers.

Erica Vowles: And just to be clear, it was two Water Police that were conducting the investigation, and they had limited resources and limited experience in dealing with murder trials.

Geesche Jacobsen: They did indeed. They had spoken to the Homicide Squad before they left, and the Water Police Commander had insisted his staff were amply qualified to handle the case, and should do so, but neither of the officers had handled a homicide investigation before, and their inexperience I guess, showed in the investigation. However they were also disadvantaged I think, because the crime scene, if indeed it was a crime scene, was destroyed and the men lied in their interviews.

Erica Vowles: And so the police were acting in a situation where they didn't feel they had their full rights as detectives and they were later, I guess, ridiculed, during the Coronial Inquest for attempting to take a low-key approach to investigations, speaking with passengers at the night club, and they were dubbed 'The Dancing Detectives'.

Geesche Jacobsen: Yes, one of the Water Police officers who had been chosen, Dinch Ozen approached one of the women in another cabin who had met some of the men that night, and asked her for a dance, and it was on the dance floor that the woman, Lisa Davis, approached him and said, 'We need to talk to you, we have a story to tell.'

Lisa Davis had been in a cabin with her friends when four of the men came to visit that night, and they showed them photographs of Dianne, and the women went to have a look at the cabin and saw Dianne Brimble passed out on the floor, and it's because of that encounter that at the inquest he was dubbed 'The Dancing Detective'. When he eventually came to give evidence, he explained that firstly he felt it would be easier for passengers to talk to him if they had met him in a social setting, and secondly, that obviously police officers also aren't on duty 24 hours a day.

Erica Vowles: And on the ship, the detectives were only able to interview some of the group of eight men. It took them a further seven months to get around to interviewing the rest of the men back in Adelaide.

Geesche Jacobsen: The detectives spoke to all the men on board, but some of them refused to answer questions, and even in May 2003, when they went to Adelaide, some of them still did not tell police what they knew.

Erica Vowles: And by the time the detectives made a trip down to Adelaide, seven months had passed and it took a further two years to get all of the facts lined up and for the police officers who were working on the case, to have the death investigated by the Coroner. That's quite a long time, isn't it?

Geesche Jacobsen: It took a long time for the inquest to start. It's not entirely unprecedented. Since then the Coroner's Court has tried to speed up matters and it is a little faster now to come to inquest for most cases. But it was a complex case. The detective in the end was working on the case by himself. Again, he had not that much experience. And there were a lot of witnesses.

Erica Vowles: And the coronial inquest itself went on for 17 months. That's also quite a long time.

Geesche Jacobsen: Yes, it is one of the longest inquests in New South Wales history and the length of the inquest caused some concern in legal circles, because they were concerned that the publicity arising out of it might impact on the rights of any people that might ultimately be charged, to have a fair trial.

Erica Vowles: Because so many people were reading every day in the newspapers about these eight men, and they were all being lumped in together, and that would impede on their ability to be considered innocent before the eyes of the law, before -

Geesche Jacobsen: That's right. I mean the group of eight was seen as a group of eight even though one person slept through the whole lot and at least two people had never met Dianne Brimble. So they had nothing to do with it, and initially the media didn't distinguish between their roles, and that was a problem arising out of the publicity from the inquest.

Erica Vowles: Eventually the inquest was stopped, evidence was mounting that could form the basis of a criminal trial. The case was referred to the DPP, and three men were charged. Who was charged, and what were they charged with?

Geesche Jacobsen: Leo Silvestri and Ryan Kuchel were charged with hindering a police investigation. That was in relation to evidence that given that inquest which had showed that they hadn't told police the truth. And Mark Wilhelm was charged with supplying a prohibited drug to Dianne Brimble and with her manslaughter.

Erica Vowles: So Mark Wilhelm went to trial; he was facing a manslaughter conviction and a conviction of supplying the drug. Can you explain the two types of manslaughter charges that Mark initially faced in the trial?

Geesche Jacobsen: Yes, the Crown initially asked the jury to consider manslaughter on two grounds. The first was by gross criminal negligence and the second by an unlawful and dangerous act. As the trial unfolded, the element of gross criminal negligence had to be dropped because it emerged there was not enough evidence to prove that this had occurred.

Erica Vowles: What case did the prosecution mount in terms of how Dianne Brimble came to take the drug, and the manslaughter culpability of Mark Wilhelm?

Geesche Jacobsen: The Crown did not dispute that Dianne Brimble took the drug willingly.

Erica Vowles: And this was based on the evidence of some of the men involved, that she asked for the drug and that she'd taken the drug willingly.

Geesche Jacobsen: Based in fact on the evidence of Leo Silvestri and Ryan Kuchel, who as part of their plea bargain in their case, had agreed to give evidence against Mark Wilhelm. And then the Crown looked at the negligence case and I guess was trying to establish that something should have been done earlier to help help her. With the unlawful and dangerous act, manslaughter, the Crown was trying to prove that giving the drug was a dangerous act that caused her death.

Erica Vowles: And what did the judge say about the legal requirements of a duty of care in a situation like this, where Mark Wilhelm and the other men didn't know the woman that well, but despite that, they were in a situation where Dianne Brimble may have been suffering an overdose, had signs that something was very physically wrong with her.

Geesche Jacobsen: The duty of care is an element of the gross criminal negligence charge, in which the Crown had to prove firstly that Mark Wilhelm had owed her a duty of care, and then secondly, that he had unreasonably breached that duty and that this had contributed to her death. So there were a couple of stumbling blocks, and on the duty of care issue, the problem was that it was doubtful that he even owed her a duty of care initially. That duty arose from the contact they'd had or from him giving her the drug, so the duty would have only started arising once Mark Wilhelm and Leo Silvestri started helping Dianne Brimble. And then the second problem was that it was unclear when Dianne Brimble had died, and therefore it could never be established whether any failure to help her actually contributed to her death or whether maybe she had already been dead at the time.

Erica Vowles: I can imagine people listening to this, thinking 'This is all pretty bleak', this idea that someone who has just met a woman doesn't owe her a duty of care.

Geesche Jacobsen: Yes, I think what is at the heart of the public disquiet perhaps about this that they feel somebody should be responsible for leaving this woman there and not doing anything. But that duty of care does not legally exist just like when you see what looks like a homeless person passed out on the street, you do not have to stop and check on them. Though perhaps we should all think about our moral responsibilities next time we see that and think, 'Well maybe this time this person isn't just alcohol affected'. And that duty of care did not exist for Mark Wilhelm, given the relationship he had with Dianne Brimble, though in other circumstances, say parents to children, or other people in a more vulnerable position, a duty of care could be said to exist.

Erica Vowles: In October, 2009 after hearing all the evidence and after deliberating for a week, the jury failed to return a verdict on manslaughter. From the requests they made to the court during that week of deliberation for further information, what were the issues that were playing on their minds?

Geesche Jacobsen: At that stage the jury still had before them the drug supply charge and the charge of manslaughter by unlawful and dangerous act. They needed to find that the drug if they were convinced Mark Wilhelm had given it to her, significantly contributed to Dianne Brimble's death. And that seemed to be the sticking point. Was the drug and the giving of the drug, so instrumental in her death that Mark Wilhelm should be held criminally responsible? They asked a number of questions during their deliberations, and it always seemed to come back to them wrestling with that point. And later on, Justice Howie, who presided over the trial, himself acknowledged that it was perhaps a technical point, that technically the jury could have found him responsible, but that perhaps it was more a case of a moral responsibility and not a criminal one.

Erica Vowles: Is it arguable that other people were morally responsible?

Geesche Jacobsen: That's an interesting question. Mark Wilhelm was not the only one who saw her lying on the cabin floor. There were at least ten other passengers who had looked inside the cabin, and done nothing.

Erica Vowles: In fact you've called your book Abandoned . Who, in your mind, abandoned Dianne Brimble?

Geesche Jacobsen: Well certainly it was the state in which she was lying on the floor, and you could argue that some of the men abandoned her, but you could also say the passengers that saw her perhaps equally abandoned her. And even perhaps she herself abandoned some self-care or some of her normal principles and put herself in a dangerous situation. And as the investigation unfolded, I think even the system abandoned her to some extent. P&O failed in their responsibility; the Water Police investigation wasn't perhaps as good as it could have been; there were problems with the inquest; and so on. So it was a whole litany of failures.

Erica Vowles: I guess it could be argued that other people abandoned Dianne Brimble, the passengers that saw her, the crew members, but again, the other passengers hadn't just had sex with her and hadn't just given her a drug that they should have known was dangerous, and the crew members certainly hadn't either.

Geesche Jacobsen: Well that is true indeed, and I guess that's where we talk about moral responsibility, but in fact Justice Howie said there was no reason for Mark Wilhelm to assume that the drug would kill Dianne Brimble. He was familiar with the drug, he had taken some himself, and there are some things that we might never know about this case. And one of them is perhaps whether there's any truth in a suggestion that Mark Wilhelm raises in the telephone intercepts, namely that perhaps Dianne Brimble helped herself to a second dose of the drug when she was alone in the cabin. It is possible that the drug that she was given by Mark Wilhelm didn't in fact contribute to her death, but that something else went on that we will never know about.

Erica Vowles: So the courts of our country have deemed that Mark Wilhelm is not guilty of manslaughter, there's no case to answer. As your book highlights, and the media reports have highlighted, some of the men, it's fair to say, behaved disrespectfully towards women in general. There were complaints about some of the men about the way they were treating women in the night club. In particular Dianne in her last hours, wasn't treated with respect or care. She was pushed out of bed, she was photographed when there were physical signs that she may be overdosing, but despite that, your book argues very cogently, that bad behaviour is not to be equated with the act of manslaughter, or even murder.

Geesche Jacobsen: And I guess this comes back to the difference between moral and criminal responsibility perhaps. I'm not saying all of these eight guys were angels, clearly there were some things that were unpalatable, including the vile comments that Leo Silvestri made about her during his police interviews. He called her 'ugly', 'a dog', and other terrible words, and he blamed her for ruining his holiday by dying. But that is a separate case altogether from whether any of these men actually committed any crimes, and the only crime that the courts have found has been committed on board is the supply of the drug.

Erica Vowles: You spend much of the time in the book fleshing out conversations the men had with each other before and during the coronial inquest, and I understand much of this is based on police phone intercepts. You've humanized the men for us; your book shows their partners chastising them for speaking disrespectfully about Dianne. You obviously made a pointed effort to show these people as men, real people.

Geesche Jacobsen: That's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to tell the whole story, and it's a complex story. And somehow it seems the public got to the end of it and looked at the lack of a conviction for Dianne's death, and was left puzzled. They couldn't figure out why it ended up like that when they had this belief that she had been raped, she had been killed, she had had her drinks spiked. So what I'm trying to do is by also including the men's side of the story, trying to reconcile that problem for the public and explaining what really happened.

Erica Vowles: In the days leading up to a second trial commencing, the DPP withdrew the manslaughter charge altogether, and Mark Wilhelm pleaded guilty to supplying Dianne Brimble with GHB. Coroner Jacqueline Milledge said that she re-open the case.

Despite this, no further legal proceedings against the men are expected.

Geesche Jacobsen: That's right. It's finished. The inquest is resuming in November for submissions and presumably findings. And I'm expecting that that will concentrate on issues like cruise ship security, and perhaps the quality of the police investigation.

Erica Vowles: One of the things this case highlights, not so much in this jurisdiction but with the high number of disappearances and sexual assaults on some US cruise ships and legal changes have occurred in the US. To date, similar legal changes haven't been made in Australia.

Geesche Jacobsen: That's right. The US passed a new law on this a couple of months ago. A long process getting it passed through both Houses in the US, and I anticipate that once the Coroner here has handed down any recommendations she may wish to make on the cruise industry, that we will see that being taken up in Australia as a reason for a look at the laws here as well.

Among the laws that were introduced in the US, it's requiring for example, that all cruise ships carry rape kits on board, and that there are staff trained in how to use them; that all cabin doors have peepholes, that there be better guard rails and surveillance on deck, because people apparently have gone overboard and nothing has happened; and that there be a register kept where all crimes on board be reported. And that is again, this issue about international law, because there is a bit of a grey zone here. It is a question of how you deal with potential crimes that happen in the open sea, and perhaps it is time that we do look at that.

Erica Vowles: I guess the question remains, eight years on, eight years on from Dianne Brimble's death: can we be certain what would happen today if a crew member became concerned about a situation that they thought might or might not be developing. Could they, would they force a cabin to be searched, or sealed, so that no-one could tamper with possible evidence, and so it could be searched later by police. Can we be certain that such actions would be taken?

Geesche Jacobsen: That's hard to say. I think P&O have taken very important steps in addressing the issues and are perhaps at the forefront of the industry now, because of what happened. I think they really have learnt their lesson about crime scene preservation. I think staff have been trained as to how to react to situations. Whether an individual person would pick up on something in an individual case, who knows? But perhaps rules for stricter service of alcohol, or the introduction of drug sniffer dogs at boarding the ship, would have even prevented a situation like that occurring in the first place.

Erica Vowles: And just finally, what about the poor police who may well be parachuted into the next suspicious death. Would Australian police today be any more certain about what their rights are, about their ability and their right to search cabins if they believe that there may be evidence related to a crime, would police go in with a little bit more of a gung-ho attitude, or more of a business-as-normal attitude? And would they investigate the way that they'd investigate any other crime back on dry land here in Australia?

Geesche Jacobsen: You would hope that police also have learnt a lesson out of this. They certainly have looked at the legal aspects surrounding it, and I think the procedures for dealing with these kinds of situations have been tightened up, and certainly everyone would be very much aware if they received a similar call tomorrow.

Erica Vowles: Geesche Jacobsen, Sydney Morning Herald crime editor and author of Abandoned: The sad death of Dianne Brimble.

That's the program for this week. I'm Erica Vowles, thanks to producer John Standish and to technical producer, Carey Dell.

Hours after Dianne Brimble a boarded a cruise ship she died in the cabin of a man she'd just met. An autotopsy revealed high levels of alcohol and the presence of the drug GHB in her blood stream.

An under-resourced police investigation, a lengthy inquest and a trial all followed. Eventually the courts dropped all charges of manslaughter.

Sydney Morning Herald crime editor Geesche Jacobsen has just published a book on the long-running legal saga.

• Geesche Jacobsen
• Erica Vowles, Presenter
• John Standish, Producer

Tuesday 28 September 2010

In this episode

Geesche Jacobsen's website on the Dianne Brimble story

Australian story program on dianne brimble: the mourning after (transcript).

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Second man pleads guilty over Diane Brimble death

A second man charged over the cruise ship death of Dianne Brimble has pleaded guilty in a Sydney court to involvement in the incident.

Letterio "Leo" Silvestri, from South Australia, pleaded guilty in the Downing Centre District Court on Monday to concealing a serious indictable offence.

Ms Brimble, a 42-year-old Brisbane mother of three, died 100 nautical miles out to sea on board the P&O liner Pacific Sky in September 2002.

She had ingested a toxic mix of alcohol and the date rape drug known as fantasy.

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Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.

Her body was found in a cabin belonging to Silvestri, Ryan Kuchel and one other man, who were also charged after a 16-month inquest into Ms Brimble's death.

Last week, Kuchel also pleaded guilty to hindering a police investigation.

Kuchel was sentenced to an 18-month good behaviour bond.

Kuchel and Silvestri had both been due to face trial in the NSW District Court on Monday charged with perverting the course of justice.

Lawyers for Silvestri said the trial could have lasted up to four weeks.

Judge Greg Hoskins has adjourned the matter until 2pm (AEST) while he sees if a pre-sentence report investigating sentencing options can be obtained for Silvestri.

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• SYDNEY, NSW
• MELBOURNE, VIC
• HOBART, TAS
• BRISBANE, QLD
• ADELAIDE, SA
• CANBERRA, ACT

Man probed over death of Dianne Brimble arrested in drugs sting

• South Australia

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True Crime Conversations

The cruise ship death of dianne brimble.

On the 23rd of September 2002, Dianne Brimble stepped aboard what should have been a ten-day cruise through New Caledonia and Vanuatu with her family. But within less than 24 hours, Dianne was found unconscious, in a strangers room.

The cabin belonged to four men, travelling as part of a bigger group of eight. The Adelaide Eight, as they’d soon become known. A group of young men ready to indulge in the vices of the infamous party cruise industry. 

The death of Dianne Brimble exposed a dangerous culture on board these ships, but the mystery surrounding her final hours would lead to a search for answers for the better part of a decade.  

THE END BITS

Subscribe to Mamamia

Guest: Geesche Jacobsen 

You can find out more about her book Abandoned here.

Host: Emma Gillespie

Executive Producer : Gia Moylan

Junior Producer : Cassie Merritt

Audio Producer: Rhiannon Mooney

GET IN TOUCH:

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at [email protected]   

Join our closed Facebook community to discuss this episode. Just search True Crime Conversations on Facebook or follow this link  https://bit.ly/tcc-group  

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via  Lifeline  on 13 11 14 or  Beyond Blue  on 1300 22 4636

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

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The truth of Dianne Brimble's last day revealed as family tells of their relief

THE truth about Dianne Brimble's sordid death on a cruise ship has finally been set in stone.

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IT has taken eight years, 72 inquest days, more than 80 witnesses, a Supreme Court trial and millions of taxpayer dollars.

Now the truth about Dianne Elizabeth Brimble's sordid death on the floor of a cruise ship cabin has finally been set in stone by the coroner who began it all.

Coroner Jacqueline Milledge yesterday finished what she started on March 9, 2006, handing down her finding that the 42-year-old mother of three died from the effects of the illicit drug fantasy, administered by "a known person".

"She was unknowingly drugged by unscrupulous individuals who were intent on denigrating her for their own gratification," Ms Milledge said at the inquest at Balmain Local Court in Sydney's inner-west.

The formal finding echoed the sentiments that opened the inquiry, when counsel assisting the inquest Ron Hoenig said the evidence would show Ms Brimble had been "preyed upon" by a group of eight men she met just hours after boarding the P&O cruise ship Pacific Sky.

Ms Milledge's finding contrasted evidence presented to the Supreme Court when one of eight original "persons of interest" faced a trial for manslaughter.

Mark Robin Wilhelm, who admitted having sex with Ms Brimble shortly before she died, pleaded guilty in April to supplying the drug fantasy after the Crown dropped the manslaughter charge.

His sentencing judge Rod Howie said the evidence showed Ms Brimble had taken the drug voluntarily and "did so under the influence of alcohol and, therefore, in no way was [Wilhelm] responsible for the effects of the drug on Ms Brimble".

However, Ms Milledge said Ms Brimble was on a family holiday and simply would not have taken the drug willingly only metres from where her young daughter slept.

"She was a person who lived a decent and innocent lifestyle," Ms Milledge said. "She had embarked on her holiday with her 12-year-old daughter and other family members, hardly indicative of a woman who intends to cruise, party and engage in a sexual free-for-all.

"Why then would a woman who could not be described as worldly, promiscuous or daring be found naked and dead in a cabin ... dying from the effects of the 'date rape drug' [GHB or fantasy]?"

While Ms Milledge's comments were slammed as "headline grabbing", "inflammatory" and "incredible" by Mr Wilhelm's lawyer Chris Murphy, they were welcomed by Ms Brimble's family.

Her former husband Mark Brimble and her partner David Mitchell were relieved the coroner had given official standing to what they believed.

"Somebody has finally got it right. The way in which her life finished has finally been told," Mr Brimble said.

While Ms Milledge was critical of many involved in the investigation, her most damning comments were reserved for Mr Wilhelm.

"[He] failed to deal decently with Ms Brimble in that crisis," she said.

Ms Milledge will make her formal recommendations, believed to centre around reforms to the cruise ship industry, on Friday.

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Purser blamed over Dianne Brimble crime scene, inquest hears

THE truth about Dianne Brimble's death will never be known because the cruise ship's purser "allowed access to the crime scene".

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THE truth about Dianne Brimble's death will never be known because the cruise ship's purser allowed access to the crime scene, an inquest has been told.

Ron Hoenig, counsel assisting coroner Jacqueline Milledge, said proper forensic examination would never be possible. "Your honour will never be able to successfully find the true cause and manner of Mrs Brimble's death, and that is the result of the ship's purser, Melvyn Armitage," he said. "It was Melvyn Armitage who allowed access to the crime scene." Ms Brimble, 42, died aboard a P&O cruise ship in September 2002 after consuming a toxic mix of the drug fantasy and alcohol. Mr Hoenig said that although medical staff knew Ms Brimble's death was suspicious, Mr Armitage ordered a guard aside and allowed people back into the cabin where she died so they could remove their belongings. "As a result, the fantasy, volume of it and whose possession can never be determined," he said at Balmain Local Court today. "Fingerprints will never be available ... Proper forensic examination and evidence of that will never be available." Mr Hoenig said it was unclear whether it was a "sinister" act, or one done in a moment of fear or out of weakness. He said P&O had since made policy changes, triggered partly by the shortcomings identified by the inquest. Three men were charged over Ms Brimble's death, including Mark Wilhelm, in whose cabin her naked body was found and with whom she'd had sex. Wilhelm was charged with manslaughter and supplying Ms Brimble with the illegal drug GHB. Earlier this year, he was convicted of supplying the drug after the manslaughter charge was dropped. But he escaped a custodial sentence, with Justice Roderick Howie declaring that he'd suffered enough from intense public scrutiny. The inquest into Ms Brimble's death resumed today to look at the cruise ship industry and to make recommendations.

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Prosecutor to examine Australian cruise ship death

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P&O pays up and apologises for cruise ship death

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The Pacific Sky, the ship on which Dianne Brimble died. Photo / Martin Sykes

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The family of Dianne Brimble, the Australian woman who died on a cruise ship from a combination of alcohol and a date-rape drug, has reached a settlement with the shipping company P&O Cruises. The amount of the compensation has not been revealed, but reports in the Australian press have described it as substantial. The settlement was reached within a week of the arrival in Australia of P&O chief executive Peter Ratcliffe from the US and followed months of negotiations. Mr Ratcliffe, a board member of P&O's parent company, Carnival Corporation, held a press conference in Sydney to apologise to the family and admit that P&O had contributed to their suffering. "We have made the grief for that family much more than it should reasonably be," Mr Ratcliffe said. "For our part, we feel we have a moral obligation to do what we can to ensure that the family, particularly the children, are properly provided for. "I expressed our sincere hope that through this process we may help bring some form of closure to the family for their tragic loss." Mrs Brimble, 42, died from a toxic combination of alcohol and the date-rape drug fantasy (gamma-hydroxybutyrate), on the P&O liner Pacific Sky in September 2002. An ongoing NSW inquest has heard she died after suffering cardio-respiratory arrest. Eight men travelling together on the ship became persons of interest in the case and many have given testimony at the inquest. Mrs Brimble's naked body was found on the floor of a cabin occupied by four of the men. The inquest has heard Mark Wilhelm provided Mrs Brimble with the drug and was later photographed having sex with her. Mr Ratcliffe denied P&O's offer was an attempt to head off a civil lawsuit from the Brimble family. He also denied the company was trying to quell an expected media frenzy once the inquest concluded in July and later issued its findings. The inquest heard evidence from a cruise ship magician, who danced with Mrs Brimble the night before her death, that he was told to "shut his mouth" by a ship's security guard when he tried to give them information about some of the men who have since been named as persons of interest in her death. The inquest has also been told that a steward on board the cruise ship did nothing when passengers alerted him to a group of naked people inside the men's cabin and a large wet patch, which smelled of urine, just outside in the corridor. Mr Ratcliffe said the Brimble inquest had been a wake-up call to the company. "There has been excessive behaviour by a minority of people. We've tolerated that. It's occurred often in places which nobody, the main people on the cruises do not see, and we have to completely stamp that out and stop that behaviour," he said. Mr Ratcliffe met Mrs Brimble's first husband, Mark, and her partner David Mitchell in Brisbane on Monday. Mr Brimble said it was the first time he had seen a "human face" of the company. "I think it was the first time in 4 1/2 years that we were able to give some information to the children and close family that was positive, as opposed to every other bit of information which was dreadful to have to share with them," he said. "The inquest has been extremely long, excruciating for any person, whether connected to the family or not, to come in and see what happened or may have happened that night. I can say that the children or family have not coped well, are still finding it extremely difficult." Members of the Brimble family held a press conference of their own in Brisbane. Mr Brimble said it was a wake-up call to cruise ship operators. "Other cruise liners that cruise in and out of Australia and anywhere within the Asian region or even right around the world should take note. They should take note that the fact that these measures have to change internationally not just specifically to Australia." P&O sold the Pacific Sky in December 2005 and now has three Australian-based ships, the Pacific Princess, Pacific Sun and Pacific Star, as well as the Sapphire Princess, which visits Australia. Bar staff no longer receive sales commissions, passengers may not bring alcohol on board, bars are closed during early morning hours and more effort is being made to ensure under-aged passengers are not served alcohol. Closed-circuit television cameras have been installed at a cost of A$2 million ($2.24 million). Drug sniffer dogs are also present when passengers board the cruise liners. A zero-tolerance policy over excessive behaviour has been adopted, resulting in up to 10 people a voyage being kicked off at a ship's next port of call. Mr Ratcliffe said: "Mrs Brimble's death and the scrutiny of the inquest have changed us for ever." - Agencies

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Cruise line worker arrested at Port Everglades for child sexual abuse material, feds say

Chris Gothner , Digital Journalist

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A Celebrity Cruises crew member appeared in Fort Lauderdale federal court Tuesday after federal agents said they found child sexual abuse material on his phone after he disembarked at Port Everglades the day prior.

According to court documents released Wednesday, agents searched the phone of Dennis Ofrancia De Leon, 44, a Filipino national, after he got off the Celebrity Reflection Monday.

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Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Katherine Leonard wrote in a criminal complaint that a “cursory search” of the device revealed “multiple videos/photographs” depicting child sexual abuse material.

Authorities described videos showing boys and girls being raped or otherwise sexually abused by men or women.

Leonard wrote that De Leon admitted to viewing child sexual abuse material, saying he began receiving it about four years ago through Facebook Messenger and looked at it about “once per month.”

He admitted to viewing content showing victims under the age of 10, the complaint states.

De Leon said he “generally deletes the child pornography he downloads onto his cellphone prior to traveling internationally, but failed to do so on this occasion,” Leonard wrote.

He was taken into custody on federal charges of transportation and possession of child pornography and was being held in the Broward Main Jail on behalf of the U.S. Marshals Service as of Wednesday, according to jail records.

Those records state he’s also being held on an immigration hold.

A spokesperson for Celebrity Cruises told Local 10 News that De Leon was fired following his arrest.

Copyright 2024 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.

About the Author

Chris gothner.

Chris Gothner joined the Local 10 News team in 2022 as a Digital Journalist.

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Death-defying high dive on Royal Caribbean cruise ship shocks internet

• Ginni van Katwijk showed the perspective of a high dive on a cruise ship  
• The trained professional jumped 55ft in the air on the Harmony of the Seas ship

Most of us take a cruise to do not much but relax - but this high dive is proof you can still find an adrenaline rush onboard.

In a death-defying video, Ginni van Katwijk, a trained high diver for Royal Caribbean, performs a spectacular leap on the Harmony of the Seas cruise ship. 

Katwijk travels the world on the world's biggest cruise ship, which holds more than 5,000 passengers and crew, and is part of the high diving team that showcases their skills to passengers at the AquaTheater. 

The thrill-seeker made it clear that only trained professionals are allowed to jump from the high deck into the pool, not passengers. 

Katwijk showed what the adrenaline-fueled 55ft dive in the middle of the ocean is like. 

Katwijk starts off by putting her toes at the edge of the diving board as she points down and shows her view to the 17ft pool.  

She points at the pool, the stage, the deck and the center aquatic lift inside the pool before she points down in front of her to show where she has to land. 

'So we want to land there,' Katwijk says as she softly giggles and gives a thumbs up. 

She starts to prepare for her dive as she turns around to the camera and says: 'Just like normal, just like normal. We got this, easy peasy,' as the ship moves in the ocean. 

Katwijk then raises both arms and puts her finger tips together as her hands slightly shake before she bounces off the diving board, flips, and disappears into the water with a small splash. 

As she got out of the water, people are heard cheering her on and clapping.  

As someone filmed her from on top of the diving board, another recorded her from the stage, while another captured her daring moment from the deck. 

People have since reacted to her astonishing video, as one said: 'Just like normal? Excuse me.' 

'You couldn't pay me enough to do this,' another wrote. 

One wrote: 'She is braver than I am!' while another said: 'Oh wait, this was on a ship???'

Another adrenaline junkie commented under Katwijk's video and asked: 'Who can I talk to about jumping off the platform?' 

'I wish there was a package you could buy that lets you train with the different entertainers,' they added.  

Besides high diving, the ship offers incredible shows that feature aerial artists, soaring and flipping through the sky, aquatic dancers and a trampoline. 

Nick Weir, the Vice President of Entertainment for Royal Caribbean International, explained what takes place behind the scenes to pull off high-flying stunts onboard.

'Around the outside of a beautiful production is controlled chaos,' Weir said as he described the 'new dimension' that he and his team embark on for each show. 

Alex Williams, the stage and production manager for the AquaTheater said that the most important part of the 'incredibly complex' shows is the pool. 

'During the show, we have three individual stage platforms that move up and down independently,' Williams explained in a YouTube video. 

Each performance is conducted by a massive team of rigging specialists, aquatic stage staff, and safety divers who direct performers underwater and keep them out of harm's way. 

'The only way that these shows function is an incredible level of trust and skill between everybody involved. Everybody has to be on their game 100 percent every single day, or it just doesn't work,' Williams said. 

He explained that divers know when and when not to go based on the red and green traffic lights set up 'out in the house', while the crew member beside him controls the movement of the diving boards, the stage platform and the trampoline. 

'For the audience it must seem like magic, but there is a lot of moving behind the scenes, it's like a jigsaw puzzle,' Williams added. 

'And our goal is that you don't notice anything that we're doing.' 

In 2017, another professional high diver documented her daring moment onboard the same cruise ship. 

Cesilie Carlton, an American high diver, was seen limbering on top of the high platform as the fast-moving ocean churned past below her, before she leapt off and performed several somersaults into the pool underneath. 

The impressive and frankly terrifying video was shot aboard the cruise ship by her colleague, fellow diver Sydney Brown.

Performers typically stay on the ship for six to nine months at a time, putting on regular shows for their spectators. 

'We always begin with rehearsals at our entertainment facility in South Florida and then have about two weeks to bring the show to life onboard,' Brown explained.