Tour guide 'grossly negligent' in crocodile death
A guide who invited foreign tourists to swim in crocodile-infested waters in northern Australia acted in a “grossly negligent” manner that led to the death of a German visitor, a coroner’s report said today.
Isabel von Jordan, 23, drowned in October 2002 after being mauled by a 15ft, 78st crocodile while swimming with other tourists in Kakadu National Park, south of the northern city of Darwin.
Von Jordan had been holidaying in northern Australia after surviving the terrorist bombings in Bali that killed 202 people only days before the croc attack.
Tour guide Glenn Robless, who told the tourists it was safe to swim, pleaded guilty in 2003 to a charge of making a dangerous omission that caused von Jordan’s death. He was given a three-year suspended prison sentence.
In a report issued today, coroner Greg Cavanagh said Robless was responsible for the safety of his visitors, many of whom did not know that saltwater crocodiles were common in the park.
“Robless was well aware that large saltwater crocodiles would have inhabited that stretch of water, and that his decision to allow the group to swim in the waterway was inexplicable, indefensible and grossly negligent,” he said.
