Teenager ‘accused of killing four migrants when boat capsized intially refused and was threatened’

A teenager accused of killing four migrants when an ‘unseaworthy’ small boat capsized ‘initally refused to pilot it before smugglers threatened to kill him,’ a court heard.

Senegal national Ibrahima Bah, now believed to be 19, was travelling on the unvarnished, plywood-constructed boat – which was overcrowded with at least 43 passengers.

They had paid thousands in Euros to an organised crime group for their crossing from northern France into UK territorial waters on December 14, a jury at Canterbury Crown Court, Kent, heard today.

In a prepared statement, Bah, who jurors were told was also a migrant, accepted he knew how to pilot a boat and, in doing so, was permitted by the smugglers to travel for free.

But he claimed he initially refused, only to be threatened he would be killed.

‘He asserted in interview that he had refused to pilot the boat when he learnt on the beach that the boat was not wooden but he had been forced to go through with the agreement when he was assaulted and threatened with death by the smugglers,’ said prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC.

‘He said the intention of all of them on the boat was to get to the middle of the Channel and then seek help from the British authorities.

‘The plan was to surrender themselves while at sea and claim asylum.’

But the small craft, just 25 to 28ft in length, was ‘unseaworthy’ and neither ‘typically designed nor manufactured’ to undertake a journey in what is the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

There was insufficient lifejackets, no safety equipment such as flares or a radio, no deckboards and was being navigated without lights and by mobile phone.

It was also overcrowded with more than double its maximum passenger capacity of 20 and Bah himself was untrained, unlicensed, and said to be driving at excessive speed, the court was told.

‘The defendant, like his passengers, was a migrant seeking unlawful arrival in the UK,’ said Mr Atkinson 

The incident saw a UK fishing boat attempt to save passengers travelling on the boat in the English Channel after they heard cries for help in the early hours.

A Royal Navy patrol boat, two RNLI lifeboats, a French coast guard patrol boat and an HM Coastguard Search and Rescue helicopter subsequently joined a rescue operation after being alerted to the situation at 3.05am. 

Four people died during the incident while another 39 individuals were rescued, including two who were airlifted to hospital.  

Three of the bodies had been taken ashore at Dover by boat and the fourth had been picked up from the Channel by helicopter.

Cause of death for each was ‘consistent with drowning’, pathologist Dr Benjamin Swift concluded.

Among the 39 rescued was Bah, of no fixed address. He denies four charges of manslaughter in respect of a male identified as Hajratullah Ahmadi and three unknown males.

Jurors at Canterbury Crown Court (pictured) were told to put any ‘bias, emotion, sympathy and prejudice’ aside while deciding the case

He also denies facilitating the commission of a breach of UK immigration law.

Bah was arrested and interviewed by police two days later on December 16.

Despite Bah’s claims of being threatened, Mr Atkinson told the jury that he ‘deliberately and knowingly’ facilitated the migrants’ arrival.

‘It was in the course of that unlawful action, in which his was at the material time a central facilitation role, that at least four migrants drowned,’ he said.

‘His actions, in piloting them across the Channel, exposed them to the risk of physical harm, as any sober and reasonable person would have appreciated, and therefore amount to the offence of manslaughter.’

Mr Atkinson said the boat did not reach minimum manufacturing standards, including pressure testing or the bonding of its seams, and if properly made, was designed, for use closer to the shore in favourable weather and water conditions.

Survivors later told police that the craft had quickly taken on water and was knee-high within 30 minutes. Attempts were made to bale it out with a bucket but it was then described as deflating or bursting before it ‘broke apart’ and split in two, the court heard.

Migrants fell off or clung to the side. They were scared, screaming and had even at one point on their journey contacted the French police for help, said Mr Atkinson.

Concluding the prosecution opening, Mr Atkinson told the court: ‘By setting sail across the Channel in an overcrowded and obviously unseaworthy boat, and having regard to the risk of death involved, the conduct of the defendant can be said to be so bad in all the circumstances as to amount to a criminal act.’ 

The trial had been due to continue tomorrow but has now been adjourned by Mr Justice Cavanagh until Thursday.