L’Ecume II tragedy: Court appearance over Jersey trawler sinking

Ukrainian national Artur Sevash-Zade (34) was due to appear before Jersey’s Royal Court on 6 September to face three counts of manslaughter following the deaths of the skipper and crew of the Jersey trawler L’Ecume II.

The three men died after the trawler was in collision with the Condor ferry Commodore Goodwill off the northwest coast of Jersey in the early hours of 8 December, 2022.

Mr Sevash-Zade was arrested in the UK and taken to Jersey where he appeared before the island’s Magistrates’ Court on 3 July. He was refused bail after concerns were raised that he only had an address in Poland and none in the UK or Jersey. He was remanded in custody until 6 September (FN, 18 July, ‘Manslaughter charges over Jersey trawler crew deaths’).

A second man, UK resident Lewis Peter Carr (29), has also been charged with the ‘unlawful killing’ of L’Ecume II skipper Michael Michieli and two Filipino crewmen, Larry Ladion Simyunn and Jervis Ramirez Baligat, within Jersey’s territorial waters. He is due to appear before the Royal Court on 27 September.

States of Jersey Police launched a major investigation, Operation Nectar, after the sinking. It was assisted by four experienced investigators from the Metropolitan, West Midlands, Yorkshire and Staffordshire police forces.

States of Jersey Police has said no further arrests are planned as part of Operation Nectar.

This was one of two investigations running concurrently into the incident. A maritime safety investigation was carried out by the Maritime Standards department within Ports of Jersey, in conjunction with the Bahamas Maritime Authority (the flag state of the Commodore Goodwill) and the Philippines as an interested party.

This aimed to determine the facts and identify lessons to prevent future similar incidents.

More details of the court hearing will be included in the next issue of Fishing News.

This story was taken from the latest issue of Fishing News. For more up-to-date and in-depth reports on the UK and Irish commercial fishing sector, subscribe to Fishing News here or buy the latest single issue for just £3.30 here.

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