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Lewis Carr ignored flashing collision warnings on the radars 10 minutes before the crash

A ship's officer who was in charge of a ferry involved in a fatal collision with a fishing boat has been jailed for one year and eight months.

Lewis Carr, 30, was on duty on the bridge of the Commodore Goodwill when it collided with trawler L'Ecume II^▸ (IndustryInsider - a respected member of this forum) west of Jersey in December 2022, killing local fishermen Michael Michieli, Larry Simyunn and Jervis Baligat.

Carr was found guilty in September of breaching Jersey's shipping law. Jurors could not reach a verdict on three charges of gross negligence manslaughter against him.

The Royal Court was told the Goodwill was running behind schedule and Carr had ignored flashing collision warnings on the radars 10 minutes before the crash.

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L'Ecume II crew members Michael Michieli, Jervis Baligat and Larry Simyunn died after a collision involving their boat and Condor's Commodore Goodwill

The prosecution highlighted what they called a catalogue of failings by Carr which proved fatal.

Crown Advocate Matthew Maletroit said: "Mr Carr failed to manage and communicate properly with the look out, Arthur Sevash Zade, about the collision danger."

Mr Sevash-Zade, 35, was found not guilty of gross negligence manslaughter and the jury could not reach a verdict on the shipping law charge.

The court heard how five minutes into Mr Sevash-Zade's shift, Carr asked him if wanted to go and have breakfast.

This meant Carr was on the look out bridge alone, which went against industry standards. Mr Maletroit said: "While it was not a cause of the collision, it demonstrates safety was not Mr Carr's paramount consideration... he was willing to take risks for convenience and saving time."

Another key area of focus for the prosecution was that Carr did not properly use the technology available to him. "If Mr Carr made proper use of radar functions, he wouldn't have made error of judgement that L'Ecume II would pass the ship," Mr Maletroit added.

The prosecution also spoke about how Carr had been distracted by non-urgent tasks when radar warning of a potential collision with L'Ecume II were flashing up on screen. Mr Maletroit said: "Mr Carr should have addressed collision risks before doing other duties."

The Crown prosecution called for Carr to be sentenced to 23 months in prison for discharging his duty in a manner likely to cause "death, destruction or injury".

Defence advocate Simon Thomas argued the sentence would be too harsh. Mr Thomas said, according to international regulations, "there was some responsibility on the crew of L'Ecume II to move their vessel out of the way of the Commodore Goodwill". He added Carr trying to alter course before the collision showed it was not a case of his client "simply doing nothing to prevent the collision".