Servicing records for the scuba equipment used by a British music producer who died while diving near Byron Bay could not be produced at his inquest, a Sydney court has been told.
Karl Bareham was found lying on the ocean floor 2.5km off the coast during a dive tour of Nguthungulli/Julian Rocks on 24 September 2019.
The 37-year-old had arrived in Australia the day before to tour with City and Colour musician Dallas Green.
In the final days of an inquest into Bareham’s death, the New South Wales coroner’s court heard this week that Sundive, which provided the dive tour, kept a written log of the manual servicing of diving equipment.
David Robinson, the co-director of Sundive, was interviewed by police on 8 November 2019 as part of investigations into Bareham’s death.
The court on Tuesday heard he provided a photo of a page from the service log to police showing that regulator number 32 – the breathing apparatus hired by Bareham – had been “tuned” by staff member Stephanie Rings on 2 May 2019.
But the full logbook was not in the court brief, nor was it at the dive centre, where it was usually kept in the classroom, the inquest heard.
Rings’ barrister, Simon O’Toole, questioned why only one page of the logbook had been provided to the police, rather than all dates up until the day of Bareham’s death, including other instances when regulator 32 may have been serviced.
“You can’t say whether someone else performed work and recorded it in those documents, can you?” O’Toole asked Robinson. The latter replied: “No.”
On Wednesday, the counsel assisting the coroner, Rob Ranken, asked Robinson: “As to … the other pages of that servicing list document, are you able to assist the court in any way as to what may have happened to those?”
He replied: “I’m not, unfortunately.”
The court heard that Robinson could not recall whether he had handed the entire servicing log to the police. Patrick Barry, acting for Sundive and its directors, suggested that his client could have had unclear recollections given six years had passed since the police interview.
The deputy state coroner, David O’Neil, asked Robinson whether he had in any way concealed the servicing list from police or SafeWork NSW – “or have you concealed it from this inquest?”
Robinson replied: “No.”
He added that, to the best of his knowledge, he had revealed all service list material relating to Bareham’s regulator.
Over the course of the seven-day inquest which started in December, questions were raised in court about the safety of the diving equipment used by Bareham and practices around its maintenance, including servicing by unqualified technicians.
The inquest also heard on Tuesday that Sundive had in the last two years instigated a zero tolerance policy to alcohol. This meant a customer would not be allowed to dive with even a small amount of alcohol in their systems – a move designed to clarify what being “under the influence” of alcohol might mean.
Robinson said that he kept a breathalyser in a drawer at work but had never had cause to use it.
Earlier in the inquest, the court heard that Bareham’s chronic alcoholism may have triggered a medical event while he was underwater. The court heard that Bareham had a low alcohol blood level while scuba diving – likely equating to two drinks – potentially from drinking the night before.
A possible failure of the diving “buddy system” was also explored, a claim that was disputed by expert witness Mark Robertson, who said that nobody had separated from the dive group.
Bareham had undertaken 21 dives and had completed a refresher course on the morning of the dive. He held a PADI certification.
A finding was expected to be handed down by the end of May.
