About
Tragic Death of a Mother
Dianne Elizabeth Brimble (April 10, 1960 – September 24, 2002) was a 42-year-old mother of three from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. She died within 24 hours of boarding the P&O Cruises cruise ship Pacific Sky on September 23, 2002, apparently due to ingesting a combination of alcohol and an overdose of the drug gamma-hydroxybutyrate, otherwise known as "GHB" or "fantasy". According to news reports, security staff on the cruise ship were initially told Mrs Brimble had died of a heart attack, but there were suspicious circumstances.
Toxicology reports later revealed that the amount of the sedative drug in her system was three times the amount that a recreational user would have used. Her body was found on the floor of cabin D182, which belonged to four of the men whom she had met at the ship's disco the previous night. Newspaper reports give differing accounts as to whether Brimble was partially clothed or unclothed when she was found dead.
Eight men from Adelaide, South Australia who were travelling companions on the ship have been named by police investigators as "persons of interest" in the case. An inquest was ordered and the eight men were subpoenaed to appear.
The inquest began in March 2006. An attempt by Wilhelm's attorney to challenge the inquest was rejected, and Wilhelm has been ordered by Deputy State Coroner Jacqueline Milledge to appear when called. Mark Brimble, the ex-husband of Dianne Brimble, represented the family at the inquest and asked questions of witnesses. Other Pacific Sky passengers and personnel had already made statements.
Photographs were recovered from the memory card in a camera owned by one of the men, "Charlie" Kambouris. The camera's memory card had been reformatted but technical experts managed to recover the pictures for police. The photographs have not been released to the media because they are considered too graphic.Wilhelm claimed that the sex was consensual. Other photographs allegedly showed Brimble later lying on the floor of the cabin in a semi-nude state, having lost control of her bodily functions. At one point, the memory stick had been stolen by a P&O employee, who turned it into the police once he realised the pictures of Brimble and the men of interest were on it. IT experts were able to retrieve more than 150 deleted pictures from it, and by doing so found evidence important to the case.
According to several witnesses' testimonies, the men had spent most of the time on the cruise allegedly propositioning a number of female passengers of varying ages. Among numerous acts of alleged sexual harassment were asking a 15-year-old to do an erotic dance in their cabin for cash, entering a cabin of four girls uninvited, asking if they were going to the disco where they 'could go down on them' and asking one woman if he could perform oral sex on her among others.
The inquest heard the initial interview that Silvestri had given police in New Caledonia. The interview was taken two days after Brimble's death. At that time, Silvestri denied any involvement with Brimble. During the interview, Silvestri spoke of Brimble in disparaging terms, saying "she smelt, she was black and she was ugly." Silvestri also described her as "desperate", "an ugly dog" and a "fat thing." Silvestri told the police interviewers he was angry because Brimble ruined his holiday by dying in his cabin. According to police witness statements, Silvestri allegedly said to another cruise passenger, Allison McKain, that "The bitch is dead, the fucking bitch is dead. Some shit went down last night, some top secret shit," and that a woman had died, naked on the floor of their cabin..
Silvestri told the coronial court that Kuchel told him that Mark Wilhelm had given Brimble the drug, and that she took it willingly with full informed consent. However, Wilhelm had written in a signed statement given to a P&O security chief that he had not given any drugs to anyone. In previous testimony given in March, Counsel assisting the coroner, Ron Hoenig, described Brimble as being "preyed upon" and asserted that she was impaired in such a way that she could not have given informed consent. At the first inquest in March, Hoenig read statements from family and friends of Brimble, citing that she was a "very moral woman" who did not approve of taking drugs or of casual sex. Both Mark Brimble and David Mitchell, her partner of 14 years, gave evidence to the court pertaining to Dianne Brimble's character. However, evidence was tendered by Brimble's doctor that she had recently been prescribed the morning after pill and had previously had an HIV test for an indiscretion.
Dianne Brimble's family revealed the anguish of Brimble's drug-induced death aboard the Pacific Sky in interviews aired on Australian Story on ABC TV.
The case has prompted stricter security measures for Australian cruises with the introduction of security sniffer dogs and closed-circuit surveillance cameras throughout ships in the fleet.
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You will always be in my thoughts..
Hayley Nov 05, 2009
Dearest Dianne
Jeni Gleave Oct 23, 2009
Keep going Mark and David for Dianne
Melissa Oct 21, 2009
No other representation could serve a womans' memory for her children any better than for them to see their fathers stand publicly against the degredation and crime against this lady.
Keep going Mark and David - there are so many of us on your side - these men should all go to jail for what they did - who taught them to disregard women? - there is something fundamentally wrong with the way they were socialised.
Become an Angel and watch From above Dianne
Cathy Feb 01, 2009
I know of these loosers from my past, and I can assure you they are the EVIL, HORRIBLE, and PERVERTED people they have been portrayed to be. I have no doubt justice will be served, and Dianne may some day rest in peace knowing this.
The whole of Australia, and probably most of the world are behind you in what you are doing for her Mark and Family. I can not believe the trial has taken this long - What is wrong with our legal system????!!