Justice for Kirsty

As Malaysian police investigate whether the speedboat that killed a young British tourist off the island of Redang on Saturday strayed into waters set aside for swimmers and snorkellers, The [London] Times reports that a new inquiry will be opened into the death of the singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl.

Last weekend’s tragedy in which 23-year old Joanna Stillwell was struck by a speedboat while scuba diving is painfully reminiscent of the untimely death of MacColl, 41, who was hit while diving off the Mexican island of Cozumel – one of the world’s top dive sites – with her two young sons in December 2000.

As well as seeking justice against the person she believes carries the greatest culpability for her daughter’s death – the owner of the powerboat, Guillermo González Nova – Kirsty’s mother, Jean Newlove, has tirelessly campaigned to ensure that a similar accident cannot happen again by calling for more severe punishment against those who break the rules and endanger water users.

González Nova is the boss of the Comercial Mexicana retail chain and one of Mexico’s wealthiest businessmen. (He is pictured here consolidating alliances at the 2002 society wedding of the Governor of Veracruz’s son along with Señores Slim, Salinas Piego and Azcárraga – three of Mexico’s billionaires.)

Mexicanwave contributor Elizabeth Mistry wrote of the Justice for Kirsty Campaign in The Independent last October and again in The Times on 1 April. An hour long BBC documentary will be shown at the Edinburgh Television Festival on 28 August.

Whatever happens over the coming months, it is hoped that divers in Mexico end up better protected – with at the very least marker buoys placed around ’safe’ areas to indicate that boats are prohibited.

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