From TVM News 02 November 2018
A Polish diving instructor has been cleared of the involuntary death of the Polish diver who died in an accident two years ago in Wied iż-Żurrieq. The experienced instructor Paulina Kurowska was accused of negligence in the death of Przemyslaw Jan Walkiewicz while he was diving with a group of divers on 10 April 2016.
From testimony heard in Court, it emerged that Kurowska is a Master Scuba Diver Trainer with more than 1,000 dives, and has been an instructor for 3 years who has gone diving in the area of Um-El-Faroud several times. It was stated that the decision to do the dive was taken by the diving school director Noel Micallef after the necessary verifications were made to determine whether the weather and sea conditions were safe for the group to go diving.
What happened on the day of the fatal accident?
From the Dive Report, it emerges that the whole group was doing the necessary stops which they are obliged to make as security measures, with the technical expert, Malcolm Portelli, staying that there was no negligence on the part of the accused and at no time did the victim seem to be in trouble.
Walkiewicz was a diver with experience like the rest of the group, and in fact he was a rescue diver. He had already gone diving with the accused four times previously. He was diving with a group of divers who were staying close to one another and were in constant contact with their instructor Kurowska.
What emerged in Court?
The Court heard that at one point, the instructor noted that the Polish diver was being carried away by the current and not swimming with the rest of the group, and she immediately went to assist him. The Armed Forces helicopter pilot testified that when they arrived on the scene he saw four divers, with one of them being giving mouth to mouth by another driver. It resulted that the divers were around 700 metres away from shore and that the rescue operation was carried out in a Force 6 wind.
From the autopsy it resulted that the Polish diver had died as a result of barotrauma, in other words he rose to the surface of the water too quickly, lost consciousness and died.. The pathological results exonerated the accused of doing anything wrong because safety stops were being carried out as should be done in these circumstances.
The digital watch belonging to Walkiewicz was never found although it was spotted on his wrist when he was pulled out of the water by the helicopter. This watch guides the diver and determines when he should rise to the surface and at what rate, in order not to endanger his life.
What was the result of the evidence?
The Court did not find the least bit of evidence to prove that the accused had done anything wrong, with the versions of the witnesses all agreeing that the regulations which she was obliged to follow during diving had all been observed. It also emerged that two days before, the dive had been cancelled because of bad weather and the Court said that this shows the accused did not like to take risks and had always respected divers’s safety.
From the evidence which was collected during the Court procedures, Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech found no reason to find the accused guilty of the involuntary death of the diver, and therefore cleared Paulina Kurowska from all manslaughter charges in the death of Przemyslaw Jan Walkiewicz.
Copy of court sentence – downloaded from https://ecourts.gov.mt/onlineservices/Judgements/PrintPdf?JudgementId=0&CaseJudgementId=113873