Death of Dianne Brimble - Timeline

Timeline

• Monday, 23 September 2002, at approximately 1700 in Sydney, Australia, Dianne Brimble boards the Pacific Sky cruise ship for a 10-day/9-night cruise to Nouméa, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu. She is accompanied by her sister, Alma Wood, her daughter, Tahlia Marshall, and her niece. The eight "persons of interest" also board the ship. A total of 1500 passengers are on board.

• Tuesday, 24 September 2002 at about 0400, Brimble is seen leaving the ship's disco with four of the eight "men of interest." At approximately 0830, the ship's emergency paramedics are called to cabin D182 when attempts by two of the men to revive Brimble fail. At 0903 she is pronounced dead.

• Thursday, 26 September 2002 Detectives board the ship while in port in Nouméa and begin questioning various witnesses. While Brimble's cabin was sealed for further investigation the cabin where she was found was not, the four occupants, Wilhelm, Slade, Kuchel and Silvestri are moved to another cabin and are allowed to remove their belongings. The cabin was then cleaned. Brimble's body is removed from the ship and transported back to Australia. Her family members also disembark.

• Friday, 4 October 2002. Brimble's funeral is held in Brisbane. More than 250 people attend, including her former husband, Mark Brimble, and her partner, David Mitchell.

• 9 March 2006. The inquest into her death opens at Glebe Coroners Court in Sydney. Statements are given by friends and family of Brimble, and Pacific Sky passengers and crew.

• 16 June 2006 Letterio "Leo" Silvestri is the first of the "persons of interest" to take the stand at Glebe Coroners Court.

• 25 June 2006 Mark Brimble, Brimble's former husband, becomes the Australian representative for the US-based group International Cruise Victims Organization.

• 28 July 2006 Ryan Kuchel, the second "person of interest", testifies before the coroner.

• 11 September 2006 The inquest resumes. Betty Wood and Alma Wood, the mother and sister of Brimble, fly in from Brisbane to attend the inquest. Ryan Kuchel continues to give evidence, as do several members of P&O's security staff. During the week, Petar Pantic and Dragan Losic also testify. Upon finishing his testimony, Pantic formally apologises to the family of Brimble.

• 6 November 2006 The inquest resumes. Evidence is given by Dragan Losic, crew members and other witnesses. Brimble's family accuse police of covering up evidence.

• 16 February 2007 The counsel assisting the inquest, Ron Hoenig, suggests to the coroner that Leo Silvestri and Mark Wilhelm could be charged with murder over Brimble's death.

• 22 February 2007 P&O's chief executive, Peter Ratcliffe, apologises to the Brimble family for the company's failure to handle the situation properly following the death of Brimble. P&O offers a substantial payment to the family.

• 9 July 2007 The inquest resumes.

• 10 July 2007 Testimony is given by Luigi Vitale. He says he had never met Brimble, and does not believe her death was suspicious. He says he has no memory of the events leading up to her death.

• 13 July 2007 Testimony is given by Matthew Slade. He sets himself apart from the other seven persons of interest, referring to them as "wankers" and "idiots." He says he had received death threats regarding the case, as had another of the persons of interest, Mark Wilhelm.

• 26 July 2007 The coroner ends the inquest, saying there is enough evidence capable of satisfying a jury that "known persons" had committed indictable offences. Counsel assisting the inquest, Ron Hoenig, said there was enough evidence to conclude two unnamed people had committed an indictable offence. Hoenig said possible charges could relate to supplying a person with a drug and not rendering a person assistance.The case is referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions. In previous days, the inquest heard secretly recorded telephone conversations in which several of the men of interest joke and make derogatory statements about Brimble, including claims that she "was no angel". Some discussed the possibility of selling their stories to the police and the media for millions of dollars. The last of the men of interest to take the stand, Mark Wilhelm, elects to exercise the right to remain silent during the inquest.

• 6 December 2007 Person of Interest in Dianne Brimble's murder, Petar Pantic, fled Australia with a one way ticket for Serbia. He was discovered to have fled when police tried to serve an arrest warrant on him, in relation to the importation of prohibited Zoophilia pornography. He returned to Australia in 2009 and was fined $5,000 for the offence.

• 11 September 2008 The NSW Director of Public Prosecutions recommended that Mark Wilhelm be charged with manslaughter and supplying fantasy, and that Letterio "Leo" Silvestri and Ryan Kuchel be charged with perverting the course of justice.

• 19 February 2009 A trial date has been set for the trial of three of the persons of interest.

• 21 April 2010 Manslaughter charge dropped against Mark Wilhelm.