David Swain being charged for Murder

08:10 AM EDT on Thursday, October 8, 2009

By DAN O’CONNOR

Associated Press

TORTOLA, British Virgin Islands — A prosecutor opened the trial of a Rhode Island man on Wednesday by accusing him of killing his wife while scuba diving in the British Virgin Islands to pursue a romance with another woman.

The director of public prosecutions in this British territory, Terrence Williams, said that David Swain knew a divorce would ruin him financially and he believed money from his wife’s life insurance policy would help him win over his love interest.

“That dive was for this new woman,” Williams told the nine-person jury.

The 1999 drowning of Shelley Tyre, 46, was initially ruled an accident. But authorities in the British Virgin Islands later charged Swain with murder after a 2006 Rhode Island civil trial found him responsible. Federal U.S. agents arrested Swain at his Rhode Island dive shop in November 2007 and he was extradited to Tortola.

Swain maintains his innocence and his defense lawyer has said they will show the drowning was a “tragic accident.”

Williams said the evidence suggests Tyre’s dive gear was forced off in a struggle underwater. He said a strap was broken on her mask and the mouthpiece was detached from her snorkel, suggesting the use of “great force.”

Once her body surfaced, Williams said, Swain performed CPR only momentarily.

“This is what you would do for an ordinary person, a stranger diver. But this was no stranger, this was his wife,” said Williams, adding that Swain discouraged others from trying to revive his wife.

Swain, 53, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. The trial is expected to last several weeks.

(www.projo.com)

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