THE seaman in charge of a Condor freight ship when it hit a fishing trawler in December 2022, killing its three crew members, is due to be sentenced in the Royal Court today – the first time in Jersey that sentencing remarks will be allowed to be broadcast.
Lewis Carr (31) was convicted at the end of September under the Shipping (Jersey) Law 2002.
In a month-long trial, two men – Carr and his lookout on the night of the collision – faced manslaughter charges.
The prosecution alleged that in the early hours of 8 December 2022, the two crewmen concerned themselves with non-urgent tasks when they should have been watching out for collision risks.
But Advocate Simon Thomas, defending Carr, said a broken bulb on L’Ecume II was a possible reason why the Condor crew might not have seen it. Their errors, he said, weren’t enough to convict them of manslaughter.
The jury was hung on Carr’s manslaughter charge, so the 12 jurors were given a lesser charge to consider instead. They found Carr guilty of conduct endangering ships, structures or individuals. Ukrainian seaman Artur Sevash-Zade was acquitted of manslaughter and the jury was hung on the Shipping Law charge.
Today, Carr is due to be sentenced by two Jurats in the Royal Court.
The hearing is set to be the first of its type in Jersey where cameras will be allowed in the Royal Court as sentence is passed down.
This follows changes to the law in England and Wales, where filming became permitted in July 2022.
Whereas the progress towards the UK change was slow, with the intention having first been signalled in September 2013, the pace has been significantly quicker in Jersey and comes within six weeks of a new Bailiff taking office.
Robert MacRae, who was sworn in on 24 October, told the JEP: “When I was interviewed shortly before I was sworn in, I did say that I was open to broadcasting of sentencings in the Royal Court in appropriate cases – this would need to be on request, and not in every case, but in a case where it was warranted.
“I have consulted with other judges about a practice direction to enable this, and that direction was sent [last week], including to the media.
“It’s a process from start to beginning that took nine years in England and here will have taken about six weeks, so we can move quite quickly, if needed.”
Mr MacRae added: “I should emphasise it will only be sentencing cases, never trials, so victims and witnesses won’t be identified and it won’t ever infringe the safeguards that have been put in place to preserve the anonymity of victims in all sex cases and children in all cases – they’ll never be infringed in any way.”
Explaining the rationale behind the change, the Bailiff said: “The objective is to enable people who aren’t in court – the public at large – to fully understand the reasons for decisions made by the court and to promote greater transparency in terms of people’s understanding of those reasons, and also to reinforce public confidence in the judiciary and, of course, the Jurats who determine sentence in these cases.”
The practice direction allowing the change to happen came into force yesterday. There are strict limits on what can be filmed – only the judge delivering sentencing remarks can be shown.
Mr MacRae commented that the decision was “a way of increasing transparency in the justice system”.
He added: “This is an important step in ensuring that justice is as open as possible.”
Follow the JEP online for updates from the sentencing.
