The seaman who was in charge of a Condor freight ship when it hit a fishing trawler in December 2022, killing its three crew members, has been jailed for 20 months.
Lewis Carr (31) was convicted of conduct endangering ships, structures and people at sea, after a four-week trial in September. The jury couldn’t make a decision on a more serious manslaughter charge.
Carr was the most senior crew member on the bridge of the Commodore Goodwill freight ship at the time of the collision with the L’Ecume II, at 5.35am on 8 December 2022.
The collision killed all three people on board the fishing trawler: skipper Michael Michieli (62) and his crew, Larry Simyunn (33) and Jervis Baligat (31).
Crown Advocate Matthew Maletroit, prosecuting, told the court today that Carr had failed to keep a proper lookout and failed to use the equipment available to him.
“The cumulative effect of these failings was causative of the collision,” the advocate said.
He showed the court the various pieces of equipment and showed the Jurats a reconstruction of the itinerary taken by the two vessels ahead of the collision.
Crown Advocate Maletroit said Carr’s behaviour had gone against several rules for seafarers, and asked the court to jail him for 23 months.
Advocate Simon Thomas, defending, said Carr accepted he had made errors and had written in a letter: “I recognise the pain and anger felt by the families and I can only say that I am truly sorry for their loss and the part I played [in it]”.
He said Carr had “reflected” on his actions, and was “committed” to making sure “nothing like this ever happens again under my watch”.
Advocate Thomas added that Carr had suffered from PTSD and depression as a result of the collision, and that it was “unclear” whether he could work as a seafarer again – a career he had “long dreamed of doing”.
Carr had acted negligently, he said, not with gross negligence and not intentionally.
During the trial and today’s sentencing, Mr Michieli was remembered as an experienced fisherman.
Speaking in the Royal Court today, his wife Clare Michieli showed the court two photographs – one of L’Ecume II as she would have looked the morning she left Jersey for the last time, and one of the wreckage recovered.
“I ask the court, look at these photographs… and ask: how do you describe the impact of this crime?”
She described being “exposed repeatedly” to detailed descriptions of the collision and to arguments as to whether her late husband’s fishing lights were on – a question which formed a key part of the trial.
Mrs Michieli added that Carr had not accepted his wrongdoings.
In comments read out by the prosecution today, Mr Simyunn was described by his family as “a loving, kind and good provider”.
His sister wrote in a statement: “[Carr] can still be visited in prison by his family. We lost out brother. He cannot be visited in prison. He is gone.”
The family added that they would “never get to spend time with him ever again”.
Mr Simyunn was previously remembered as a “hero” who was “selflessly driven” and had “a deep love for his family”.
In comments read out by Crown Advocate Maletroit today, Mr Baligat’s family spoke of the “profound shock and sorrow” they felt at their loss.
The described the day of the collision as “the most devastating day our our life”.
“No amount of words could really express the pain and sorrow we went through with that incident,” they added.
Commissioner Sir John Saunders, presiding, said the accounts he had read were “extremely moving”.
Carr was a second officer on the Commodore Goodwill, and at the time of the collision he was the more senior of the two crew on the deck.
In the aftermath of the collision, he was charged with manslaughter. At the end of a month-long trial, the jury were hung on this charge and found him guilty of a lesser charge under the Shipping (Jersey) Law 2002.
During the trial, jurors watched detailed reconstructions of the radar screens that would have been available to the two men on the deck, as well as audio recordings and maps showing the paths of the two vessels.