A man whose five-year-old son died in a capsized boat off the coast of Bulli has told of his haunting decision to leave the boy, after the pair shared their final moments together trapped in an air bubble under the sea.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"I thought ... I have to leave or, you know, both of us will die," the man later told police. "So I, I left my son. I left my son."
The boy was wearing a flotation aid - possibly a life jacket, when a boat with his father at the helm hit the submerged Peggy's Reef off the Bulli coast the evening of June 6 last year.
Two male passengers - friends aged in their 20s - went into the open water, but father and son went under the hard-top fishing boat into what the man described as a tight space with little air, likely in the boat's submerged nose.
A Wollongong Local Court magistrate is now considering the question of whether the boy's father acted negligently in not slowing the boat before the accident, which also claimed the life of one of his adult passengers.
In a harrowing police interview played to the court on Tuesday the boy's father, from south-western Sydney, said the group had taken the borrowed boat out for an afternoon's fishing, departing Bellambi boat ramp about 2pm. He said he had previously gone fishing in deeper waters, but had sought out depths of just 10m that day, having been told that was where the fish were.
"I was planning to get off the water obviously before dark. I got carried away with the fish," he said.
He said satellite equipment on the boat was not programmed to give an audible warning before the boat hit rock at Peggy's - more formally known as Waniora Point - as the boat travelled southward back towards Bellambi boat ramp on nightfall.
He said he screamed "everyone out of the cabin" and urged his friend to switch on the boat's Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon, but there wasn't time.
The interview, nine days after the tragedy, was peppered with long silences as the visibly distraught man was asked details about his son's final moments. He broke down in tears and was unable to answer some questions.
He said he and the boy were left in such close confines in the capsized boat he was "pretty much in [the boy's] face".
"I got to this [air] pocket there, which my son was there, alive, and I was with him for a few minutes in there," he said.
"And I can hear [the surviving man's] screams from the outside ... I didn't know where I was at the time. I knew I was in the cabin but I didn't know what, you know, in the water, what position we were in. So I thought ... I have to leave or, you know, both of us will die."
He told police he found his way to the surface, swam towards one of his friends and tried in vain to keep that man afloat.
"I held him for a good, you know, two, three minutes. And in that time I can hear my son's screams. He [the man] started to get a little bit heavy. And I, I just look at [the surviving friend] and I go ... 'I think [the deceased man's] gone. And he goes, 'yeah'. And so, I just, I just let him go."
He said he then repeatedly dove under the water, trying in vain to reach his son before breathlessness forced him back to the surface.
"He was screaming for 'my dad', for me."
Police took a boat out on the course chartered by the ill-fated vessel about two months after the accident, in a video-recorded reenactment timed to coincide with near-identical conditions including a full moon and similar tides.
The court heard an expert would give evidence that the vessel was travelling at a minimum of 25.93kmh when it hit rock.
In his police interview, the man suggested the tragedy could have been averted if there were lights and buoys at the reef.
The man and his surviving friend were winched to safety by helicopter.
He said his son was wearing a life jacket but that this "probably caused his death anyway - because it trapped him".
He also questioned why the chopper didn't have a diver on board.
"We told them he [the boy] was in there. If he was alive - I'm not saying he was alive - but if there happened to be a diver in that helicopter, they probably could have rescued him. Possibly."
The hearing continues tomorrow before Magistrate Claire Girotto.
Do you have a story or news tip to share? Email us on cos@illawarramercury.com.au
We depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support.
Angela Thompson
Proudly Illawarra Mercury since 2008; these days covering crime and justice issues. UOW alum. Thrilled by the chase and sobered by some of the things I see and hear when I stand still - sometimes in the same day. ang.thompson@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Proudly Illawarra Mercury since 2008; these days covering crime and justice issues. UOW alum. Thrilled by the chase and sobered by some of the things I see and hear when I stand still - sometimes in the same day. ang.thompson@austcommunitymedia.com.au
