A British man accused of attempting to drown his daughter-in-law during a holiday to Disney World in Florida has pleaded with a judge to free him.
Mark Gibbon, 62, has been jailed after being charged with the attempted murder of Jasmine Wyld – the former girlfriend of his son, Alex.
An argument broke out over his will, and it is alleged that the grandad, from Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, repeatedly pushed her underwater in the swimming pool at their rented vacation villa in Davenport, near Orlando.
His nine-year-old granddaughter jumped into the pool to rescue her mother but Gibbon just shoved her away, police said.
It was previously revealed by the Daily Mail that Gibbon and Ms Wyld have been in a relationship for the last two years after their marriages fell apart.
The victim shares two children with Alex, who is said to be estranged from his father.
She told investigators later that she ‘could not breathe and feared that she would drown’, according to an affidavit from Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
But she has since testified that she ‘always felt very safe around Mark and him being around my two children,’ adding that she is ‘not afraid of him.’
Appearing via a video link from England, Ms Wyld described him as her ‘best friend’, according to The Times, and added: ‘This has come as a bit of a shock to me.
‘I can only sing his praises for what a fantastic grandfather he is.’
She spoke in support of a motion submitted by Gibbon’s lawyer seeking his release from custody, subject to a ‘no-violence’ order by the court.
But Judge Jalal Harb denied the motion, noting that her sworn testimony contradicted her sworn statement made on the day of the incident and was ‘nowhere near consistent to what was provided to the sheriff’s office’.
He added: ‘Quite frankly, her testimony is of great concern to this court.’
Ms Wyld has since returned to England since the incident while Gibbon is in custody at Polk County Jail in Bartow.
He has been charged with battery and attempted second-degree murder. At a separate hearing last week, he pleaded not guilty to the two charges of battery.
He did not appear before the judge and currently remains in custody, pending another hearing next month.
Last week, detectives gave Ms Wyld’s perspective of the pool incident in their arrest report: ‘She advised that she could not breathe and believed that she was going to drown.
‘[The victim] advised that she had to fight Mark in order to get away from him and from under the water but he kept pushing her back under.’
Two women are said to have told Gibbon they had called police which made him stop the attempted drowning, and he was taken into custody.
A witness told officers she ‘observed him push the victim under the water and hold her there multiple times’ and watched as he ‘scratched her on her chest’, according to US website People.
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