murder and involuntary manslaughter - Law Reform Commission

4.39 In The People (DPP) v Barden 45 the skipper of the Pisces fishingboat was charged with five counts of manslaughter, one count ofendangerment contrary to section 13 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against thePerson Act 1997 and one count of being the master and owner of adangerously unsafe ship contrary to section 4 of the Merchant Shipping Act1981. Five people drowned in 2002 when the defendant’s unseaworthy boattook in excessive amounts of water and capsized.4.40 Although there were ten people on board, there were only twolife-belts and one life-jacket. The defendant was aware that the Pisces was aboat that took in water. He had to pump out water every ten minutes. Anengineer with the Marine Casualty Investigation Board gave evidence at trialsaying that the boat was overloaded, unstable and insufficiently equippedwith life-preserving equipment. He also said that modifications had beenmade to the boat before the defendant purchased it, including theconstruction of a deck and the introduction of freeports (holes cut in thesides of the boat to allow water on deck to flow out). Tests found that if theboat was depressed on one side by three inches, the freeports would be levelwith the sea and if it was depressed further, the water could flow in throughthem. The engineer said that if a life raft had been on board, lives wouldhave been saved. 464.41 Significantly, the defendant was “no beginner, no learner” wherethe sea was concerned, but rather was a man of many years sea-faringexperience. He worked for 27 years in the merchant navy and then in smalltimefishing until 2002. Despite all the evidence against the defendant whoowed a duty of care to the people he took out on his fishing boat, the juryfound him not guilty of manslaughter on all five counts and not guilty ofreckless endangerment. He was convicted of running an unsafe vessel undersection 4 of The Merchant Shipping Act 1981 and fined €1000, which wasthe maximum fine permissible under the legislation. This Act was replacedby regulations in the Maritime Safety Act 2005 and the new maximumpenalty for such an offence is €250,000 and/or two years imprisonment.4546See Siggins “Much done, but much remains to be done for safety on water” The IrishTimes 24 November 2005.See Gartland “Witness says boat was overloaded, unseaworthy” The Irish Times 17November 2005. Counsel for the Defence argued that the legislation which was inforce at the time would not have required the boat to have a life raft.87