Attorney-at-law Martin George said the shark attack suffered by British tourist Peter Smith was an isolated event and does not open up the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) to liability.
George, the chairman of the Tobago Business Chamber, said the High Court had previously found the THA liable for injuries suffered by Yanik Quesnel and Spanish national Ana Carolina Barry-Laso, who suffered cuts and broken bones from a passing pirogue’s propeller blades at Pigeon Point, Tobago, in 2007. Quesnel had to use a wheelchair following the mishap, while Barry-Laso walked with a limp.
In her ruling, Justice Judith Jones found that the Pigeon Point Heritage Park, which managed the facility for the THA, breached the duty of care it owed the teenagers.
“In failing to erect warning signs preventing vessels from accessing the adjacent water, the THA and the company breached the duty of care that they both owed to the claimants, and as a result of those breaches the claimants suffered injury,” Jones said.
The THA appealed Jones’ ruling but the court eventually dismissed the challenge.
George explained that Smith’s injuries were related to him going into the ocean, a shark’s natural habitat. Therefore, it is difficult to place blame on the THA or any state agency for failing to implement safety measures. He said Tobago does not have a history of numerous shark attacks to classify its waters as unsafe and in need of alerts.
“When one looks back and you check the archives and the records, it is difficult to find any other scenario such as this reported in Tobago where someone suffered this extent of injury from a shark attack. I think in such a circumstance, one cannot really ascribe blame or liability to the THA or the government for failing to take preventative measures,” he said.
George said the THA can learn from the experience and ensure it is more vigilant about the presence of sharks and, if necessary, implement measures to keep tabs on the ocean activity. He said in the United States and Australia drones are used to detect predators in the water. He said the THA can use nets at beaches to protect sea bathers if their checks determine that there are predators nearby.
At this point, George said, people should not blow things out of proportion and escalate the issue beyond what it is—a random, isolated incident.
However, if there is an increased presence of dangerous sharks near beaches and the authorities take no action, there could be grounds for legal challenges if someone else gets attacked.
“I think if the facts show there is a clear and present danger and they do nothing about it then you can probably try to say look, they ought to have done something because they know that people bathe in those waters, especially if the sharks are coming close to the shoreline. But, so far, that is not the situation,” he said.
