A Coroner’s Jury returned a verdict of misadventure after hearing details of the death of Dale George Hugh Gordon, who drowned in the sea off Pedro’s Bluff on the afternoon of 8 March 2003.
Queen’s Coroner Valdis Foldats conducted an inquest on Monday, calling some witnesses and reading the statements of those unable to attend.
Dale, who had turned 19 the month before, went to the bluff area with three other young people: Joseph Hydes and Sarah Sue Scott, both 19; and another girl, who was 15 at the time.
Dale, Sarah Sue and the other girl knew each other from Cayman Brac, where they had attended the middle/high school together.
In March 2003, Dale was attending the Community College in Grand Cayman. Sarah Sue had moved here and the other girl was visiting. Joseph and Sarah Sue were boyfriend/girlfriend.
Mr. Foldats read the younger girl’s account of that Saturday afternoon to the jury. He also read statements from persons who took part in the recovery operation.
Joseph gave evidence in person. He told the court the four went to the bluff area because Dale wanted to see it. They had nothing planned. They weren’t wearing bathing suits, just everyday clothes.
The area they went to was about a half-mile past Pedro Castle. There was a rough lane to the top of the bluff. There was no sign warning or saying no trespassing.
Joseph said it was about 20-25 feet from the top of the bluff to the ocean and the water there is about 20-25 feet deep. He told the court he had jumped off the bluff there before.
Dale asked Joseph if he was going to jump in and Joseph said not that day because it was kind of rough.
Usually there was a rope up there, but there was none that day.
They stood there talking about it and decided not to do it. Then as they walked back to the car, Dale said something and just ran straight into the water.
After Dale came up to the surface, Joseph jumped in. There was no indication Dale was in trouble, but it was his first time, so he didn’t know where or how to get out.
Joseph tried to guide him to the right spot and explain how to get out – wait till the wave comes down and pushes you up. Dale tried a couple of times but didn’t get it. The face of the bluff is iron shore; it was slippery and sharp.
Joseph said he went underneath and tried to push Dale up and Dale tried to climb, but kept saying it was too sharp. Joseph tried this two or three times, but was getting tired because Dale was bigger than he was.
He got out himself, climbed to a higher level and then took off his shorts and shirt and tied them together along with the girls’ tops, to make a rope. Dale grabbed it but kept saying the rocks were too sharp. Joseph told him to try to relax.
He told one of the girls to call police. Then a friend who lived nearby was called and asked to bring a rope, but it was too short.
Sarah Sue wanted to go in, but she was too small.
The incident lasted at least 25 to 30 minutes, he said. He was telling Dale to relax and let the water take him out, but Dale kept struggling. He disappeared before the police came.
Sarah Sue also gave evidence in person, giving an account similar to Joseph’s but adding details. She said when they went to the bluff everyone was laughing and joking around. She knew she was not going to jump because she had done it once and didn’t like it.
They were there for probably an hour. The boys kept joking and trying to decide. She and the other girl had already started back to the car when she heard Dale say he was going to do it. He jumped and Joseph jumped after him.
She didn’t see any panic at first. Then they tried to swim in. It wasn’t until they got closer that the waves started breaking and she could see they were going to have a hard time getting ashore, she remembered from her own experience that ‘you don’t know what the current’s like till you get in’.
She remembered that Joseph cut his hand pretty badly and that’s when she started to get scared. She thought Dale was afraid to get cut.
She wanted to jump in but the others wouldn’t let her. She could see Dale was getting tired and she kept telling him to float and let the current take him. She saw him go under a little bit and come back up. Then he just went under.
Dale was a strong person, quite tall. On the Brac they would sneak up on the Creek Dock and jump off, but it wasn’t as high and the current wasn’t as bad.
Fire Officer Clay Fabian Ebanks described how he recovered Dale’s body from the sea floor at a depth of 35-40 feet.
He said the Fire Service dive team was an informal group. He had been off duty that day when he got the call; he called others and they boarded a Department of Environment boat at Spotts to head to the bluff area. He thought it would have been an hour or hour and a half after a report was received that someone dove off the cliff and didn’t come back up.
Mr. Ebanks said he knew the area as he used to jump from shore. But he would not have dived from that spot and he would not have dived that day because it was too rough and visibility was not that good.
Government pathologist Dr. John Heidingsfelder was asked to explain the autopsy report because the doctor who did it was not available.
The examination showed a large amount of fluid in the lungs and a foamy, watery material in the nose and throat. This foam is the result of tiny bubbles produced by air sacs in the lungs. It is primarily seen in people who drown.
He said there were post mortem scrapes on the chest and lips. It was not uncommon for bodies in water to move against the bottom and receive such scrapes, he explained. There was nothing in the report to indicate that Dale had hit his head on the rocks or suffered any cuts or bruises.
Dr. John confirmed that tests for drugs and alcohol were negative.
Related Videos
