Boat owner cleared of blame

A judge has had the final say on a sea tragedy in which three men died, reports GREGG WYCHERLEY.

The prosecution of a fishing boat owner accused of allowing his vessel to sail in an unsafe condition has ended with his acquittal, 3 1/2 years after three men died when the boat sank off Raglan.

Mark James Mathers was acquitted yesterday of causing or permitting the boat to be operated in a manner which caused unnecessary danger to others.

The judgment, which had been nervously awaited by the fishing industry, was the result of a re-trial.

A conviction could have been regarded as having shifted responsibility for actions at sea from the skipper of a vessel to its owner - even if the owner was not on board.

Mr Mathers was convicted on the same charge last March and ordered to pay $8000, to be split between the victims' families and the sole survivor of the 1998 sinking of the 10.5m fishing boat Hunter II.

He was also convicted of operating a vessel without holding a safe ship management certificate and fined a further $2500.

Last June, the Appeal Court overturned the conviction on the charge of causing or permitting a boat to be operated in a manner which caused unnecessary danger to others.

The Appeal Court found that original trial judge Neil McLean had misdirected the jury on the law and ordered a new trial, which began in the Hamilton District Court on March 4.

In a reserved judgment released yesterday, Judge Phillip Cooper said a number of factors had caused the loss of the vessel.

But these operational matters, including the use of an unsuitable anchor and insufficient rope, the smoking of cannabis by some crew members, anchoring too close to shore and not using warning and safety devices on board or to maintain a proper watch, were the responsibility of the skipper, not the owner.

Large swells struck the boat early on September 18, 1998.

It overturned, causing the death of the skipper, Jeremy Gray, 27, his brother Shane, 18, and their 17-year-old cousin Cory Maniapoto.

The only survivor was crewman Glyn Rees.

The vessel dragged its grapnel anchor, which had been damaged in a previous incident and was of a type not normally recommended for use on the mud seafloor found around Raglan.

Judge Cooper found that when the boat left Raglan it was in an unsafe condition without a dedicated anchor attached, but the skipper could have used other anchors that were on board.

He ruled that it was reasonable for Mr Mathers to assume that a qualified and experienced skipper would "take the obvious and simple operational step of attaching one of the anchors provided before the vessel departed".

"I agree with the observation made by defence counsel that this step is so basic that to require that the accused check that it be done is akin to requiring him to check that the master had fuelled the vessel sufficiently."

Mr Mathers said he was relieved the case was finally over, but angry that the Maritime Safety Authority had prosecuted him in on the basis of what he believed was a shoddy investigation.

"The authority have got a lot to answer for ...

"They're a bunch of cowboys just chasing a witch-hunt to try and change the legislation."

The authority's director of maritime safety, Russell Kilvington, said each accident was unique and the MSA would continue to investigate them.

Mr Rees said the decision was wrong and made a scapegoat of the skipper, Mr Gray, who was unable to defend himself.

nzherald.co.nz/marine