A jury has acquitted one of two crewmembers of a UK-flagged cargo ship that had been involved in a collision with another vessel that left three people dead off the coast of Jersey in 2022.
Jurors in Jersey's Royal Court found Artur Sevash-Zade, a crewman on the Condor Ferries Ro-Ro vessel Commodore Goodwill (since renamed Caesarea Trader), not guilty of gross negligence manslaughter in connection with the December 8, 2022 collision with the trawler L'Ecume II in St Ouen's Bay off Jersey.
No verdict has yet been reached for Lewis Carr, Sevash-Zade's co-accused, though the BBC reports that he had been found guilty of a breach of local shipping law.
Carr's sentencing has been set for December 4.
L'Ecume II had departed St Helier in Jersey with three people on board on the morning (local time) of the date of the incident. Following the collision, the trawler sank within minutes, and rescuers reportedly saw only debris when they arrived in the area later that same day.
Recovery teams found the bodies of skipper Michael Michieli and Filipino crewmen Jervis Baligat and Larry Simyunn in the days following the collision.
Prosecutors had said during court proceedings that neither Carr nor Sevash-Zade was maintaining a proper lookout at the same time that L'Ecume II was also in the vicinity. This is despite the fact that the larger Ro-Ro provided "excellent" views of the bay from the bridge in addition to being fitted with three radars.
An investigation revealed that there were no other vessels in the area in the minutes leading up to the collision.
Crown Advocate Matthew Maletroit had told jurors that the Ro-Ro's collision warning lights had been flashing for 10 minutes before the trawler was struck and that the two accused had "ample time" to respond accordingly, but both were then engaged in "non-urgent" tasks.
The accused did not take action until just "seconds before impact," said Mr Maletroit.
Prosecutors added that although no speed limit was being enforced in the area, crews are nonetheless obligated to maintain a safe distance and speed relative to other vessels to minimise the risk of collision.
The accused had made no effort to reduce speed and so the larger Ro-Ro vessel was doing 18 knots when it struck the trawler, prosecutors argued.
