The driver of an inflatable dinghy told an inquest yesterday the boat had not struck a diver's marker buoy in a Sai Kung bay or the diver who placed the buoy to show his position.
Mark Simpson admitted he had felt a tug or a jolt on the outboard engine of the high-powered Zapcat dinghy near the white floating marker as he steered the craft towards Solitaire - a pleasure boat owned by the diver, Bjorn Lohse, and his wife Barbara. However, he had 'no worries' because this often happened when he sailed over debris.
'I turned around, I looked around, I saw nothing,' he told the hearing into the death on April 8 last year of Lohse, 51, owner of Central bar Le Jardin and part-time lawyer.
When he reached Solitaire, Mrs Lohse told him her husband had been diving for about 30 minutes and pointed towards the marker, said Mr Simpson, adding: 'I said I might have hit something over there.'
He disputed Mrs Lohse's testimony that he had reacted with horror when he realised he had hit something in the water.
He said that he and Mrs Lohse talked for 10 minutes before she voiced concern that her husband had been underwater for too long.
On the day of German-born Lohse's death, Mr Simpson had arranged to visit the couple aboard Solitaire with his friend David Vincent, who had joined him on a jet ski in Lobster Bay, Sheung Sze Wan.