looking back the comments of the controller may sound harsh. But if the pilots had not declared an emergency, the comments could be seen not as a joke but a "wink" to perhaps attempt at relaxing the pilots.
I agree with Bose-X. P1 is P1 and there are no exceptions. Executing an illegal flight and failing to take the right and timely (diversion) decisions is his responsibility.
On the subject of (only) having flown 120 hours, that still represents perhaps a year or more of many flight as P1, so although relatively low hours, it is plenty of hours to appreciate what P1 means.
Closure for the Walker family I hope will consist of the acceptance their son died because he took the wrong decisions doing what he loved doing, with contributary factors letting himself being influenced by irresponsible outsiders and deteriorating weather
It remains a very sad story