It’s been seven years since Brisbane mother-of-three Dianne Brimble died naked and alone on the floor of a stranger’s cruise ship cabin.
In that time, through a 16-month inquest and subsequent court appearances, we have heard about the bungled police operation, incompetent security staff and – perhaps most stunningly – been shown just how appallingly human beings can behave.
Ms Brimble was a mother of three children and it’s those young adults whom we should all consider today.
A man who had been accused of Ms Brimble’s manslaughter – allegedly by giving her the drug that led to her death – was left with an unclear future after a jury was unable to reach verdicts.
Mark Robin Wilhelm, 37, may face a retrial on the same charges – manslaughter and supply of a prohibited drug – or there may be negotiations about resolving the matter another way after large elements of the case were withdrawn by the Crown on the eve of the jury’s deliberations.
But at least he has a future.
Ms Brimble does not, and her children face a darker one without their mother.
Irrespective of the outcome of the trial today – which legally cannot be subject to much comment – if this case is to teach any of us anything at all, it should be about how we treat each other.
Maybe she was flirting outrageously with some of the men on board the ship, maybe she – as Wilhelm’s defence counsel argued – took the drug willingly as a fully consenting adult, knowing it was dangerous in a moment of naivety.
But regardless of that, she never deserved the treatment she received at the hands of at least three complete strangers afterward.
She was still a human being, with family and friends who loved her – and a daughter who was sleeping just metres away as her mother lay crumpled on the floor of the Pacific Sky’s cabin D182 – a fact known to the men within hours of her death.
For Leo Silvestri to then describe Ms Brimble as a “fat chick” who ruined his holiday – among a string of other abhorrent terms that do not need to be repeated here – is an absolute disgrace.
He simply didn’t care, she was an annoyance and a problem that needed to be got rid of.
His indignant attitude and the complete uncaring ambivalence of some of his friends is galling.
Most of the others just wanted to get as far away from the problem as possible, erase it from their minds and never look back.
Certainly, others – including Wilhelm – were described as being very upset at the death of the woman and others expressed remorse at her passing to her family.
So they should.
To behave any other way deserves the social and moral condemnation of us all.
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