Tortola officials seek Swain evidence
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Authorities in Tortola said yesterday they had requested from a Warwick lawyer trial transcripts and other evidence he used in the civil wrongful-death case against Jamestown scuba shop owner David Swain as part of their “fresh look” into the 1999 death of Swain’s wife, Shelley Tyre. Tyre, 46, drowned while scuba diving off the Caribbean island with Swain and another couple. In February, following a nine-day trial, a Providence jury determined that Swain acted with “malice aforethought” in killing his wife of 5 1/2 years. Susanna Henighan, spokeswoman for Tortola’s chief minister’s office, said that Terrence Williams, director of public prosecution for the country’s attorney general’s office, had contacted J. Renn Olenn — the lawyer for Tyre’s parents — seeking material and witness contact information from the case. While Tortola police say the case of Shelley Tyre’s death was never officially closed, their request for documents is one of the first active steps they’ve taken, Olenn said, in determining whether to seek criminal charges against Swain. Tyre’s parents, Richard and Lisa Tyre of Jamestown, brought the wrongful-death suit against Swain, alleging he killed their daughter for money at a time when he was pursuing a relationship with another woman and knowing that a prenuptial agreement would leave him none of his wife’s assets if the two divorced. Swain has repeatedly said he is innocent and has called Shelley Tyre’s death a “tragic accident.” He has appealed the civil finding, which awarded the Tyres more than $3.5 million in damages. Swain has never been charged criminally. Tortola police called the drowning at the time an accident “unless proven otherwise.” In a phone interview yesterday Swain said that, although he thought it premature for Tortola officials to review the case before his appeal is heard, “I’m more than happy to participate, to comply, to answer any and all questions and to get all of the facts out. I’m OK with all that. Always have been OK with all that.” Later, in a faxed statement, Swain said it was understandable that authorities in the British Virgin Islands, of which Tortola is a part, are taking a fresh look at the case, “in light of the fact they are only getting one side of the story due to my lack of legal representation at the civil trial.” Swain was not represented at trial by a lawyer and made only a late appearance at the end to act as his own attorney, calling one witness, his daughter, from a previous marriage, and making his own closing argument. In a failed attempt for a new trial, Swain accused Superior Court Judge Patricia Hurst of unfairly moving ahead with the trial knowing his key lawyer had cancer. In denying Swain’s motion for a new trial, Hurst said she had urged Swain repeatedly for more than three years to look for another lawyer and he chose not to. Swain has said the case against him is circumstantial and advanced by the “Tyres’ paid experts” who came in from various corners of the country to testify. He often notes that Hurst herself called the elaborately detailed scenario of how Swain allegedly drowned Shelley Tyre — as Olenn described to the jury during closing arguments — wild speculation. But in denying Swain a new trial, Hurst also said, “In short, the only reasonable conclusion a jury could draw . . . was that this was a homicide. I’m satisfied that I would have reached the same verdict as the jury. The quality of the evidence was strong.” Olenn said yesterday a prosecutor from the British Virgin Islands’ attorney general’s office contacted him in writing earlier this month seeking transcripts of the more than two dozen witnesses Olenn had called during the civil trial. “They have asked for evidence that can be used in an investigation and potential prosecution,” said Olenn. “They have said they will seriously pursue the investigation and I have no reason to doubt they will.” Shelley Trye died March 12, 1999, about eight minutes, Olenn contends, after she and Swain entered the water together on the final day of their diving vacation. Swain surfaced alone about 35 minutes later and Swain’s friend, Christian Thwaites, jumped in. Thwaites came across the first sign of trouble moments later: one of Shelley Tyre’s yellow swim fins sticking in the sand, toe-first. He pulled the fin out and began searching for Tyre, expecting, he testified during the trial, that she would be grateful that he had found her fin. Instead, he found her lying on her back on the sandy bottom with her eyes and mouth open. The following day a man who runs a dive shop on Tortola, James Philip Brown, dove at the common dive site where Swain and Tyre had been, looking for any potential dangers. He testified that he found Tyre’s mask, missing an anchoring pin on one side that holds the strap in place, and also her snorkel which was missing its mouthpiece. Both pieces of evidence, Olenn and his expert witnesses have said, indicate Tyre was attacked. Tortola Police Inspector Dennis Jones was a detective at the time who worked on the case. He told The Journal last month that “there was nothing much to go on at all — no real evidence, per se” when the police first looked into Tyre’s death. After an autopsy a couple of days later, Tortola authorities allowed Swain to leave the island. |