Falklands : Court News (13/14 April 2006)
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 17.04.2006 (Article Archived on 01.05.2006)
Before Senior Magistrate Claire Faulds on Wednesday and Thursday.
CROWIE, MINNELL AND BROWNING DAY TWO
By J. Brock (FINN)
In day two of the trial of Peter Crowie, Adrian Minnell and Henry Browning the Senior Magistrate, Mrs. Claire Faulds, delivered her judgement against Mr. Crowie and Mr. Minnell - Mr. Browning already having pled guilty.
After Mrs. Faulds, the Prosecuting Officer Mr Philip BuBerry and Council for the defence Mr. Keith Watson attended chambers on Thursday morning the way forward with reference to Mr. Browning’s guilty plea was decided. It was decided that Mr. Browning’s guilty plea pointed to the fact that an incident happened and not point to the guilt or innocence of Mr. Crowie or Mr. Minnell.
The Crown, however, proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Mrs. Faulds said that evidence showed Mr. Barker started the chain of events by man-handling Mr. Crowie and throwing him out of Sandra Henry’s home. Raised voices heard were sufficient to keep the Ormond sisters inside their homes. PC Street’s evidence showed that Mr. Barker was very, very angry. Though Mr. Barker was drunk at the time, Mr. Crowie was proven, by a breath teat to have been sober at the time. Mr. Crowie also tried to keep the facts of the case suppressed and was found to be lying at his first interview. Finally, the extent of Mr. Barker’s injuries did not match up with the Mr. Watson’s argument of self defence.
A provisional date for sentencing was set for 1000hrs on Thursday, 25 May 2006. In the meantime, a pre sentence report would be prepared for Mr. Browning and antecedents produced for Mr. Crowie and Mr. Browning.
THE CROWN VS CHUN YING FISHERIES AND CAPTAIN YU TENG
In Magistrate’s Court at1045hrs on Thursday, 13 April 2006 Chun Ying Fisheries Ltd. of Taiwan and Captain Yu Teng of the Fishing vessel Ju Ying were charged with a breach of their licence conditions, in that the Master and Owner are responsible for the safe boarding and disembarking of Fisheries Officers.
The incident for which the Captain and the Fishing company were charged occurred on 11 April 2006 during the Captain’s rest period when Officers from the Fisheries Department wanted to board the vessel for an inspection. The pilot ladder which Mr. John Adams used to board the vessel was faulty and, when he was near the bottom the ladder broke, throwing him into the sea.
The Captain pleaded guilty to the charge. Mr. DuBerry, who prosecuted the case, said that under the present legislation this was a Level 9 Offence and the maximum fine was £35,000.00. He applied for £70.00 prosecution costs.
In mitigation Mr. Kevin Kilmartin for the defence said that the ship had two pilot ladders and the crew mistakenly let down the weaker ladder. The ladder had been purchased in Stanley three years ago and had been used 10 days ago during transhipping. He also said the Company had lost three days’ fishing and that the log books were inspected and were in order.
The company only had the one ship and even though fishing was poor during the past years it continued to pay licence fees and support the Falklands economy. Until now the ship and company had a blemish-free record. It was an unfortunate accident and was not contrived for profit or to prevent the fisheries officer from doing his duty.
Had the accident happened when the new fisheries ordinance was in force it would be a Level 6 Offence and the maximum fine much less.
In sentencing Mrs. Faulds said she was concerned about health and safety atsea and it was fortunate that Mr. Adams was plucked out of the sea so quickly. She asked how much the ladder cost and the answer came back that it was $400.00 or £300.00.
She continued that it was the Captain’s duty to ensure that the equipment was in safe condition.
The Fishing Company was fined £3,000.00 and Captain Yu Teng was fined £300.00 the prosecution costs were split between the Captain and the Company.
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