we have no idea what else was occurring
The report does go into some detail about what else was occurring.
Or are you arguing that if I say "climb to 9,000ft" & the pilot stalls his aircraft & crashes then I as a controller am responsible?
Are you saying it would not be a considered a problem if a controller issued an instruction to a VFR aircraft to descend below the level of terrain? Is that a common practice?
I am not saying the controller did that - I am saying there appears to be confusion and the pilot might have thought he was instructed to descend to 1000'.