Gabe Watson - Honeymoon Killer

Tina Watson drowned while scuba-diving with her husband off the coast of Townsville in Queensland in 2003. She was on her honeymoon and very much in love. Dubbed the Honeymoon Killer, Gabe Watson, 32, was released from prison this morning at 6.30am. Six Immigration officials arrived at Borallon Correctional Facility just before 6am and he was released into their custody. Watson had served an 18-month sentence for the manslaughter of his wife Tina.

He would normally be put on a plane and deported to face murder charges in America but the Australian government wants an assurance from the US that he will not face the death penalty if tried and convicted in Alabama. In the meantime, he will stay in an Immigration detention centre in Melbourne until a decision is made.

Gabe Watson's lawyer has been highly critical of Alabama's pursuit of murder and kidnapping charges against Watson after the Queensland courts sentenced him to just 18 months jail for the manslaughter of Tina. Watson admitted he failed to render assistance to his wife but did not intentionally cause her death. ABC's Australian Story ran a program about the case and it was clear from the evidence shown in that program, that Watson had indeed planned the death of his wife. I can only imagine how Tina's father felt when the verdict was handed down, the 18 months sentence must have been an insult. In that program, Tina's father was distraught when he found that flowers he placed on Tina's grave would mysteriously disappear. So he set up a video camera and caught Watson sneaking up to the grave and taking the flowers. One can only wonder why.

Watson married Kim Lewis in August 2008, two months after he was ordered to face charges in Queensland for Tina's death. The current Mrs Watson is living in the same house where Tina spent just one night. She is hanging blue ribbons for her beloved's homecoming. I hope this man receives the justice he deserves.

Edit:  Abe didn't even get to trial.  Circuit Judge Tommy Nail ruled in Birmingham, Alabama that prosecutors failed to present enough evidence to send the case to a jury and acquitted him. Shocked Prosecuting attorney Mr Valeska said Judge Nail hobbled the prosecution by refusing to allow the jury to see a video of an underwater re-enactment Queensland police did at the shipwreck and surveillance footage of Watson using bolt-cutters to remove flowers from Ms Thomas's grave. And Nail also refused to allow the jurors to hear the most crucial piece of evidence - that Abe asked his wife to increase her life insurance five fold before they left for their honeymoon.  Because of some crazy American law, Abe cannot be tried again in the USA.