Jury Finds Ferry Officer Guilty on Lesser Count in Fatal Collision

The second officer working aboard the ferry Commodore Goodwill in 2022, when it collided with a fishing boat and killed the three people aboard, was found guilty on a lesser charge during a jury trial in Jersey, UK, on Friday, September 26. The jury was unable to agree on three counts of manslaughter while also acquitting the ferry’s lookout on the manslaughter charges.

The trial stemmed from the December 2022 collision of the Commodore Goodwill (11,000 gross tons) with the fishing boat L’Ecume II. The ferry was running late on its run into Jersey, and at 0535, about four nautical miles off the coast of Jersey, making about 19 knots, it struck and sank the fishing boat. The captain and two crewmembers were lost with the fishing vessel.

The presiding judge, Commission Sir John Saunders, said after three weeks of testimony that it had been “an extraordinarily difficult case. The jury deliberated for 18 hours before finding Artur Sevash-Zade, the ferry’s lookout on the morning of the collision, not guilty. The jury returned on Friday and, after an additional 90 minutes of deliberation, returned its verdict.

Lewis Peter Carr, the second officer and on watch aboard the Commodore Goodwill was found guilty on a lesser charge under Jersey’s Shipping Law. The jury agreed that he had endangered ships, structures, or individuals, an offense that carries a maximum of two years in jail. They were unable to reach a verdict on the manslaughter counts.

The Senior Investigating Officer for the incident, Andy Shearwood, spoke to the media afterward, calling it “one of the most complex investigations that the State of Jersey Police had ever handled.” He detailed that they had taken hundreds of statements, interviewed over 150 witnesses, and examined around 800 documents and over 1000 exhibits.

Investigators, however, were unable to recover the fishing vessel and key pieces of evidence from the vessel. They said the weather and tides had caused additional damage to the vessel. They had hoped to recover the navigational lights and possibly the fuse board to determine if the lights were on or off at the time of the collision. If the lights had been on, L’Ecume II had the right of way, but if they were off, it was its responsibility to move out of the path of the ferry.

During the trial, Carr told the court that he believed the collision had happened because the fishing boat’s lights were off. They also questioned if there was a lookout aboard the fishing boat and if it had altered course in the final minutes before the collision.

Friends of the deceased fishing boat captain called him an excellent sailor. They asserted that he would never have been operating without his lights. 

Prosecutors contended that the collision was the result of human error and negligence. Carr admitted to having been busy with other duties, and a few minutes before the collision, the ferry altered course. They also alleged that the fishing vessel was visible on radar. The lookout had left the bridge earlier for his breakfast but had returned 13 minutes before the casualty.

The Commodore Goodwill arrived in Jersey with scratches and minor damage. The vessel had been in service to Guernsey and Jersey since 1996. The ferry operator Condor Ferries was recently merged into Brittany Ferries, and the vessel was sold earlier this year to DFDS.

 

Top photo by John K. Thorne -- CC0 1.0