I think so too. He had some of the coins which were the ones they found in the boat shoes. That's what I took from the articles. I think he knew LE found the coins in his boat shoes.. wasn't he present during the search?
FL FL - Isabella Hellmann, 41, catamaran off Cay Sal, FL Keys,14 May 2017 #2 *GUILTY*
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I think so too. He had some of the coins which were the ones they found in the boat shoes. That's what I took from the articles. I think he knew LE found the coins in his boat shoes.. wasn't he present during the search?
SuperTmo
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I bet he had an "oh crap!" moment when he realized he left some coins in the boat.😂
Gardener1850
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I wonder if he thought the Coast Guard would just let his life raft float away after he was pulled off of it? Since it had a second ePIRB homing device on it, did he plan to go back and locate the raft later? Perhaps that was the true reason for his trip to Cuba? He could have sailed out to sea from Cuba claiming he was looking for Isabella, but really looking for the life raft with all those valuables on it. :moo:
Right... what was his plan???? He left a huge portion of his loot on that lifeboat. What did he think was going to happen to those coins?? I have a strong feeling he was used to charming people all his life, winning them over with his lies... and then this happened and he had no idea he would even be on LEs radar because he was used to everyone believing him. He's a British version of a Nigerian prince IMO
MelmothTheLost
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It's a simple point of UK family law. Where the birth parents are married [to each other], they both automatically have equal parental authority. There is no precedence for the mother. Since Isabella is clearly dead the father now has sole parental responsibility for the child. So his family actually has better "claim" to her than Isabella's family has. The baby inherits UK citizenship through her father.
That would not stand in the UK because the mother cannot just strip the father of his parental rights (when the parents are married). Parents can jointly set out their intentions, eg that Auntie Jean should become the child's guardian if both parents are killed or become unable to care for a child, however social services will review the arrangement, should it become necessary, to check that Auntie Jean is not now shacked up with a known paedophile or someone with a record for violence. A sole surviving parent with parental responsibility can similarly set out their wishes in case they die.
MelmothTheLost
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Yes. However, the US government would only really recognised the US citizenship and you would almost certainly have to use a US passport to enter and leave the US.
MelmothTheLost
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I suspect it will depend on how the EU wants to play it. Before the UK joined the EEC (as it was then) Brits travelled freely to the non-Communist block, and citizens of those countries did the same to the UK. No visas were necessary. You showed your passport at the frontier, got it stamped and entered that country. If you were staying at a hotel, the hotel arranged for registration details to be supplied to the local police. If you were travelling independently, say staying with friends, you went down to the police station yourself and showed your passport.
In the UK all children now need their own passport, including babies.
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Photos, some taken underwater, provide an eerie look at Lewis Bennett’s overturned catamaran in the Caribbean. In one, a plastic coat hangar inside the cabin can be seen through a window.
http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news...ay-woman-vanished-sea/LekzcUsZxjWx69YqIiwNNM/
http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news...ay-woman-vanished-sea/LekzcUsZxjWx69YqIiwNNM/
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Another shows one of the vessel’s two hulls with a sizable hole in it:
Lewis Bennett says his Surf Into Summer struck something at about 1 a.m. west of the Bahamas and about 90 miles southeast of Key West. He says he came up from below and saw only twinkling stars. His newlywed wife, Isabella Hellmann, was gone and the vessel was taking on water.
From that moment until he made his first distress call — Coast Guard timelines say 1:07 a.m. — he searched the dark seas for his wife, wrestled with the sail and engines, determined the boat was taking on water too quickly, and dragged out and inflated his life raft. He even cut the “painter line” to the catamaran because all of it, save a corner of one hull, had gone below the water line.
Bennett also had on that raft a suitcase, two backpacks, flares, buoys, 14 gallons of water, a second electronic locator beacon — and nine plastic tubes investigators say contained thousands in stolen coins.
The hole might not be a gash at all, but rather an opening where a “dagger board” broke off, said Tom Danti, dean of the Chapman School of Seamanship in Stuart.
A “dagger board” is an adjustable fin that can be pushed below the water to help stabilize a vessel.
“The hole in that photograph seems to be very clean. There’s no rough edges. It’s got a perfect shape to it and seems to be in the same area that one would expect to find the vessel’s dagger board,” Danti said.
http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news...ay-woman-vanished-sea/LekzcUsZxjWx69YqIiwNNM/
By Florida law, if Bennett is convicted on the felony count, he would be disqualified as the conservator, or controller, of his wife’s estate, said Mitchell Kitroser, who represented Hellmann’s sister in a failed attempt to wrest control of her assets from Bennett.
It’s most likely custody of Emilia would stay with Bennett’s parents in England, who are believed to have her now, Kitroser said.
The attorney also said the family “may make other decisions along the way” about any other legal actions against Bennett, “but we’re very early on in the criminal case, and Mr. Bennett, just like any other defendant, is presumed innocent.”
Lewis Bennett says his Surf Into Summer struck something at about 1 a.m. west of the Bahamas and about 90 miles southeast of Key West. He says he came up from below and saw only twinkling stars. His newlywed wife, Isabella Hellmann, was gone and the vessel was taking on water.
From that moment until he made his first distress call — Coast Guard timelines say 1:07 a.m. — he searched the dark seas for his wife, wrestled with the sail and engines, determined the boat was taking on water too quickly, and dragged out and inflated his life raft. He even cut the “painter line” to the catamaran because all of it, save a corner of one hull, had gone below the water line.
Bennett also had on that raft a suitcase, two backpacks, flares, buoys, 14 gallons of water, a second electronic locator beacon — and nine plastic tubes investigators say contained thousands in stolen coins.
The hole might not be a gash at all, but rather an opening where a “dagger board” broke off, said Tom Danti, dean of the Chapman School of Seamanship in Stuart.
A “dagger board” is an adjustable fin that can be pushed below the water to help stabilize a vessel.
“The hole in that photograph seems to be very clean. There’s no rough edges. It’s got a perfect shape to it and seems to be in the same area that one would expect to find the vessel’s dagger board,” Danti said.
http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news...ay-woman-vanished-sea/LekzcUsZxjWx69YqIiwNNM/
By Florida law, if Bennett is convicted on the felony count, he would be disqualified as the conservator, or controller, of his wife’s estate, said Mitchell Kitroser, who represented Hellmann’s sister in a failed attempt to wrest control of her assets from Bennett.
It’s most likely custody of Emilia would stay with Bennett’s parents in England, who are believed to have her now, Kitroser said.
The attorney also said the family “may make other decisions along the way” about any other legal actions against Bennett, “but we’re very early on in the criminal case, and Mr. Bennett, just like any other defendant, is presumed innocent.”
Gardener1850
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What could he have hit in the ocean that would cause a hole like that? That hole looks like it was purposely cut. JMO. :moo:
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This Dean is saying the gash is actually where the daggerboard is located and, somehow, broke off.
I didn't know what a dagger board was so I found picture:
http://www.winneryachts.com/winner-8-daggerboard/
Gardener1850
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This Dean is saying the gash is actually where the daggerboard is located and, somehow, broke off.
I didn't know what a dagger board was so I found picture:
http://www.winneryachts.com/winner-8-daggerboard/
Interesting. I've never heard of a dagger board, either. So what could tear a dagger board cleanly off like that? :thinking:
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Don't have a link, sorry.
It's called a dagger board partly because it's moveable, kinda stabbed into the water then removed. It isn't needed in all conditions, helps in some types of waves & wind.
The dagger board is probably still inside the catamaran, wherever that is.
IIRC JMHO LRR YMMV
turanna25
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That was my first thought upon seeing those underwater pictures today..
I am not a lawyer, international or otherwise, but I do have personal experience of jurisdiction issues in international child custody cases
. I also, at the time I had to deal with it, did a lot of the research (in agreement with my lawyer) to keep costs down. It is, very generally, the child's place of residence. In this particular case, her father has *sole parental authority and custody* of the child and has allegedly taken her to England and presumably left her in the care of family members there. And that's where she'll stay, IMO, for the duration of the case against Bennett and probably longer.
The bolded bits shouldn't be forgotten or ignored. IF there are any petitions by either set of grandparents/relatives for custody (and/or visitation on the American family's side), the U.K. would have jurisdiction because that's where she is. That's where her father has chosen for her to be.
It's an interesting legal question, especially as any putative dispute is not between the parents. It would be between the father & grandparents/relatives, and father is still in charge here, even under arrest & in jail.
By the way, citizenship, place of birth etc, have nothing to do with it, it really is all about residence. And at the moment, the child is - as far as we know - residing in the UK, by her father's choice.
The best thing IMO, is for the families to try to come to an agreement amongst themselves about visiting.
This Dean is saying the gash is actually where the daggerboard is located and, somehow, broke off
I didn't know what a dagger board was so I found picture:
http://www.winneryachts.com/winner-8-daggerboard/
That might be like a centreboard in a single keeled boat. As I recall, you'd pull up the centreboard as you approached shallow water, sometimes completely removing it to fet it out of the way. But the boat wouldn't take on water, there was a casing built around the slot, that somehow sealed it off from the rest of the hull.
Also, the slot in the photo is above the waterline, so I don't think that could be the source of the leak. The hole would have to be below the waterline in order to let water in. Maybe authorities didn'treleased the photos of the hull damage.
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Bennett, a UK-Australian national, will appear in court in Key West on Friday after his arrest over the coins. His lawyer Mark Shiner said he would deny transporting stolen items.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/wor...ny-smuggling-stolen-coins-worth-a3624741.html
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/wor...ny-smuggling-stolen-coins-worth-a3624741.html
How was it missing it's propeller? :thinking:
"A notation from about 5 a.m. says the catamaran is missing its propeller and its skeg — an extension of the hull that helps stabilize the vessel and protects the rudder and propeller — and that “a large chunk of the starboard hull (is) missing from an apparent collision with an object.”"
http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/crime--law/exclusive-new-details-emerge-night-delray-woman-vanished-sea/LekzcUsZxjWx69YqIiwNNM/
"A notation from about 5 a.m. says the catamaran is missing its propeller and its skeg — an extension of the hull that helps stabilize the vessel and protects the rudder and propeller — and that “a large chunk of the starboard hull (is) missing from an apparent collision with an object.”"
http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/crime--law/exclusive-new-details-emerge-night-delray-woman-vanished-sea/LekzcUsZxjWx69YqIiwNNM/
NB: I am not a boat expert!!!
From reading Wikipedia, and https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/catamaran-skeg-strut.53666/ , IIUC, the description of missing propeller & skeg seems to be consistent with a major collision of some kind.
I'm thinking it must have been one HECK of a collision to do that much damage. This was an ocean-going vessel, not a flimsy shoreline pleasure craft!