A ‘COMPLEX’ file of evidence on the fatal collision between Condor’s Commodore Goodwill and the L’Ecume II trawler has been handed to the Law Officers Department by the States police.
A similar file on the Pier Road explosion will be submitted to the department in due course, Chief Minister Kristina Moore has confirmed.
Law Officers, overseen by the Attorney General, will examine the evidence and determine if it is in the public interest to pursue criminal charges related to the investigations.
The L’Ecume II sank on Thursday 8 December following a collision with the Goodwill freight ship off Jersey’s west coast. The boat’s skipper and two crew died in he tragedy.
Nine people were killed in the Pier Road explosion in the early hours of 10 December, and a tenth resident of the Haut du Mont flats died in hospital on Christmas Day.
Given the “size and complexity” of the evidence file relating to the L’Ecume II collision, Deputy Moore noted that “it will take some time to consider the evidence” – although specific timelines for completion were not provided.
The update on the reports was given in the Chief Minister’s response to a written question from Deputy Montfort Tadier.
The Reform Jersey politician inquired about timelines and estimated publication dates for the findings into the two major incidents that struck the Island in quick succession at the end of last year.
Deputy Moore stressed that the investigations were entirely independent of the government and that officials could not predict when they would conclude.
She added that it would be “improper for a minister to seek to influence the process of a criminal investigation”.
The decision to release reports and findings would be made by the prosecuting authorities at an “appropriate” time, she added.
Deputy Moore also stated that Operation Spire, the investigation into the explosion at Haut du Mont, has been “one of the largest and most complex criminal investigations in the Island’s history”. She also described Operation Nectar, the investigation into the sinking of the L’Ecume II, as “a similarly large and complex investigation”.
The body of the trawler’s skipper, Michael Michieli, was recovered from the seabed on 26 April, while the bodies of Filipino crewmen Jervis Baligat and Larry Simyunn were found on 15 December.
