Two men facing charges of manslaughter following the sinking of the L’Ecume II trawler almost three years ago are to stand trial before Jersey’s Royal Court today.
Lewis Peter Carr (29) and Artur Sevash-Zade (35) pleaded not guilty last year to the unlawful killing of skipper Michael Michieli and crew members Jervis Baligat and Larry Simyunn.
The L’Ecume II trawler was in a collision with Condor’s Commodore Goodwill freight ship on 8 December 2022.
A major search-and-rescue operation was triggered off Jersey’s west coast in the hours after the collision, with a recovery mission the following week leading to two bodies being recovered from the wreck.
They were later identified as crewmen Mr Baligat and Mr Simyunn, both from the Philippines.
In February 2023, it was decided that L’Ecume II should be raised for both “evidential gain and for humanitarian reasons” and specialist teams and equipment – including a 60-metre-long crane barge – started the operation two months later.
A body was brought ashore on 26 April and the identity of the third victim – Mr Michieli – was formally confirmed on 3 May.
A year after the collision, Jersey’s police chief Robin Smith gave an update on the investigation, dubbed Operation Nectar.
He said officers had completed more than 600 lines of inquiry and worked through more than 1,075 documents, 467 pieces of media, such as CCTV footage and photographs, 920 exhibits and 258 pieces of property, as well as obtaining 202 statements from 138 witnesses.
Mr Sevash-Zade, a 35-year-old Ukrainian national and Mr Carr, aged 29 and from Sunderland, first faced charges when they appeared at Jersey’s Magistrate’s Court in separate hearings in July 2024.
Beginning today (Monday 1 September), the Royal Court trial is scheduled to last four weeks and will take place at the former States of Jersey office building in the Parade.