The instructor of a scuba-dive training session that resulted in the deaths of three students at French Pass pleaded guilty yesterday to charges laid as a result of the fatalities.
Andrew David Stuart, who appeared in the Blenheim District Court, admitted six charges laid by Occupational Safety and Health.
The 38-year-old
had previously pleaded not guilty to 12 charges, but yesterday the service withdrew six of them and Stuart changed his plea to the rest.
His appearance follows the conviction of the Nelson Dive Centre on seven charges laid by the service in connection with the three deaths in the Marlborough Sounds on March 10 last year.
Stuart, who was previously based in Nelson but now lives in Marlborough, appeared only briefly in the Blenheim court before Judge John Walker, who adjourned the case to the Nelson District Court on July 24.
Stuart and six students were at French Pass on a course run by the dive centre when they got into difficulty.
Three of the students - Narelle Te Purei, Ricky MacDonald and David Welsh - died after the group was sucked by currents into a dangerously deep pocket of water.
Stuart was charged with failing to take all practicable steps to ensure that no action of his harmed the six students, in his capacity as an employee and alternatively as a self-employed person.
Yesterday, the service withdrew the alternative charges, meaning Stuart that admitted the charges as an employee of the dive centre.
He has not worked as a dive instructor since the accident.
In May, in the case against the dive centre, the Nelson District Court ruled that French Pass was not a safe place for a training dive because of its unpredictable currents.
It held the centre responsible for ensuring the dive site was safe, as Stuart's employer.
The centre was found guilty of six charges of failing to take all practicable steps to ensure Stuart's actions did not harm the students.
The seventh charge was for failing to ensure that Stuart had a current certificate of competence as a diver, as required under Health and Safety in Employment regulations.
The centre is due to be sentenced in the Nelson District Court on July 24, the same day Stuart will be back in court.
- NZPA
