Coroner hands down findings into Hobart waterfront deaths of Robert Xu and Jarrod Davies

Excessive service of alcohol contributed to the drowning deaths of two men in Hobart’s waterfront, a coroner has found. Here’s what’s been recommended after the inquest.

Tasmania Police divers at the end of Elizabeth Street Pier after the body of Jarrod Davies was found. Picture: Zak Simmonds

Excessive service of alcohol contributed to the deaths of two men in Hobart’s waterfront in 2019 and 2020, a coroner has found.

The men, both visitors to Tasmania, died three months apart in separate drowning incidents, each after a night of heavy drinking in Hobart.

Nearly a year after an joint inquest was held into the deaths, Coroner Robert Webster has handed down his findings.

He’s made recommendations around random spot checks at Hobart bars and real time CCTV for venues, but stopped short of advising the need for more fencing.

What happened to Robert and Jarrod?

Robert Xu

Melbourne-based trainee surgeon Dr Robert Xu, 32, was in Hobart for a medical conference, when he died in the early hours of November 7, 2019.

The night of November 6, Mr Xu attended a trainee dinner at now closed Hobart restaurant, the Glass House, where he consumed 6-7 white wines.

He and others kicked on at Evolve Spirits Bar, where he consumed at least five whiskies, before he went to Mobius with one companion and consumed single gin and tonic.

Heart surgeon Dr Rob Xu, (Robert Xu) who died at Victoria Dock in Hobart on November 7.

Mr Webster said before 1:30am, Dr Xu parted ways with his associate and was left alone.

CCTV showed Dr Xu walking past several waterfront venues by himself, mere minutes before he appeared to walked off the footpath and fell into the water.

Coroner Webster said two guests at the Hobart Grand Chancellor woke to the sound of a man “wailing” after 4am, coming from the direction of the waterfront, but they did not hear a splash or see ripples on the water.

A member of the public, walking in the area, also heard the noises, before he saw an intoxicated Dr Xu clinging onto a timber wharf post.

The man called triple-0 and attempted to get Dr Xu out of the water, but the surgeon let go of the post and was went underwater. The coroner said police arrived one minute later.

At 6:09am, Dr Xu’s body was recovered from the water; it was found he had drowned.

The coroner accepted his blood alcohol reading was likely to have been close to 0.228 at the time he fell into the water.

Jarrod Davies

Three months after Dr Xu’s death, Victorian man Jarrod Davies, 27, also met a tragic end in Hobart’s waterfront.

Mr Davies, an experienced diver, was in Hobart to attend a maritime health and safety course.

On February 8 Mr Davies spent the day with his father at several Hobart venues, and is believed to have consumed ten schooners in the nine and a half hours to 10pm.

Jarrod Davies was found in the River Derwent in 2020. Picture: Supplied.

Mr Davies then left his father at their hotel, and went to the Telegraph Hotel, where he is believed to have consumed seven vodka Red bulls.

At 11:44pm, he went to the Observatory Bar with two other men, where he purchased 14 drinks, consuming at least six.

It was at this venue he was suffered a “forceful” assault and was headbutted and punched in the jaw, which knocked him to the ground.

After the assault, Mr Davies was removed from the premises by two crowd controllers.

CCTV from the night showed Mr Davies walking along the waterfront alone from 12:59pm.

Phone records show he called his father 15 minutes later and they spoke for nearly 4 minutes.

“Robert Davies says that during that telephone call his son was difficult to understand,” Coroner Webster said.

“He was not making any sense.”

On February 10, Mr Davies’ phone was recovered by police divers at the end of the Elizabeth Street Pier, and his body was recovered the next day.

It’s believed Mr Davies’ blood alcohol concentration would have been a maximum of 0.236 at the time he entered the water.

The coroner accepted Mr Davies had drowned.

Tasmania Police divers off the end of Elizabeth Street Pier after recovering the body of Jarrod Davies. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

Coroner Robert Webster’s findings

Coroner Webster found excessive service of alcohol contributed to both Dr Xu’s and Mr Davies’ deaths.

“The fact Dr Xu walked off the footpath over the ledge and into Victoria Dock is indicative of a loss of judgement, visual impairment and/or a reduction in his powers of perception and awareness caused by excessive alcohol consumption,” the coroner said of Dr Xu.

Evolve bar at MACq01 hotel in Hobart.

The coroner found Mr Davies’ had consumed at least 21 drinks over a period of nearly 12 hours.

Counsel for Observatory Bar owner, Ian Vaughan, objected to the notion service of alcohol at the venue was linked to Mr Davies’ death.

The coroner did not accept this view.

“Mr Davies’ intoxication contributed to him either walking, tripping or slipping off the end of the pier and the level of intoxication was such as to render him incapable of extracting himself from the water,” he said.

“He was after all a very experienced open water diving instructor and he was a strong swimmer.”

Ian Vaughan co-owner of Observatory bar. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

The coroner considered whether the assault contributed to the death, and found it was likely Mr Davies suffered a concussion.

“This occurred in a person who was already extremely intoxicated,” he said.

Coroner Webster found there was no evidence any staff witnessed the assault.

He said Mr Davies was not “looked after”.

“No bottle of water was then offered by the crowd controllers on Mr Davies’ exit,” he said.

The coroner also found the venue’s failure to follow procedure also contributed to Mr Davies’ death.

“They would not have been admitted to the venue, or they would have been removed from the venue,’ he said.

“Clearly, they were admitted and there is no evidence of removal.”

The Coroner’s Recommendations

■ Venues with out of hours permits be required to implement real-time CCTV monitoring.

■ Formal guidelines for information sharing between Tasmania Police and CBOS be developed and implemented.

■ Evolve Spirits Bar review its procedures so a patron who buys multiple drinks does not consume all of them, and staff ensure the drinks are shared.

■ Regular, random spot checks of licensed premises are conducted by Tasmania Police, the Liquor and Gaming Branch and CBOS

No recommendations for waterfront fencing

The coroner investigated the safety features of the Hobart waterfront and found fencing would not be practical because it is a working port. He said measure taken by Tasports in the wake of the two tragedies was adequate.

Existing lifebuoys in Sullivan’s Cove were replaced and 15 more were added in the area, with lighting also installed to operate between dusk and dawn.

TasPorts also installed 12 extra safety ladders, also equipped with lighting.

It brings the total number of ladders to 42.

Though fencing was not recommended around the entire waterfront, there was some installed in areas not operating as a wharf, where the fall height was more than 1.5m.

Originally published as Coroner hands down findings into Hobart waterfront deaths of Robert Xu and Jarrod Davies