A coroner has revealed that a combination of alcohol, illicit drugs and a lack of basic safety precautions led to the “avoidable” deaths of three people in the waters of Bass Strait off Tasmania’s north-west coast three years ago.
23-year-old Isaiah Solomon Dixon, 31-year-old Bree-Anna Mary Jennifer Thomas and 27-year-old Thomas James Courto all drowned while on a ‘fun drinking trip’ near Table Cape on October 18, 2021.
Coroner Simon Cooper said the trio had been consuming alcohol at the Wharf Hotel in Wynyard the afternoon before the incident, with evidence suggesting they continued drinking at a friend’s home until 4am.
They then made plans to go out in Dixon’s 5.2m boat ‘ED Dog’ after getting his father’s approval at 8am that morning.
“Mr Stuart Dixon said his son appeared to have ‘had a few drinks’ … His father described him as experienced handling boats and familiar with the area of Bass Strait near Wynyard,” Cooper said.
Over the next two hours before setting off, Dixon was seen driving over a concrete parking plinth by an off-duty police officer, buying six four-packs of alcoholic vodka cruiser drinks and alcoholic cider from a bottle shop and purchasing a bottle of two-stroke oil.
The owner of the fishing supplies shop was left ‘shocked’ by their interaction as questions asked by Dixon suggested he “lacked boating experience”, Cooper said, adding other witnesses saw all three before they launched and “thought they were very intoxicated”.
The group launched from the Wynyard Yacht Club at around 10am into conditions “more than acceptable for boating” and were last seen leaving Boat Harbour around 12:45pm, creating a ‘large rooster tail’ of water according to witnesses.
“Other witnesses described seeing what I am satisfied was the boat with Mr Dixon, Ms Thomas and Mr Courto in it circling quickly, near Boat Harbour. One witness said that the boat did ‘no more than ten laps’,” Cooper said.
“A Snapchat subsequently identified by police as having been posted by Mr Dixon during the fatal trip shows him not wearing a PFD while the boat was underway.”
“Reportedly, other Snapchat videos, which I was not able to view, showed all three drinking alcohol while the boat was moving.”
Cooper said the video posted by Dixon was the last contact made by any of the three, who were reported missing hours later at 5:35pm.
Searches located the bodies of Dixon and Thomas on the shore between Table Cape and the mouth of the Inglis River the following day.
It wasn’t until months later in April 2022 that Courto’s femur bone was found by a recreational diver in water below the Table Cape Lighthouse and handed in to the Smithton Police Station.
The boat was never found and is suspected to have sank.
“There is no evidence that adverse weather conditions, the lack of a seaworthy boat or the actions of a third party caused or contributed to the deaths … Rather, no one was wearing a PFD and all were affected by alcohol, methylamphetamine and fatigue,” Cooper said.
He said the trio “should not have been on the water that day”, adding the “tragedy was wholly avoidable.”
“If they had been wearing PFDs it is likely each would have survived.”
