KEY POINTS:
The owner of an ill-fated Nelson-based fishing boat has been convicted of operating the vessel dangerously.
In a decision released today, Judge John Walker found that Warwick John Loader, 35, the owner and director of Crusader Fisheries, operated the Mi Jay in a manner causing unnecessary danger or risk to others.
He also found the company guilty of a similar charge, after hearing evidence in Nelson District Court this month.
The Mi Jay left Nelson on November 22, 2005, and its two deck hands, Wiremu Tawhiti, 53, and Cedric James, 52, were found dead in the vessel's life raft off the coast of Kaikoura on December 19 after drifting for up to two weeks.
The body of skipper Paul Rees and the Mi Jay have never been found.
Judge Walker said Loader was the sole director of the company and in charge of the vessel.
"I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Loader could reasonably be expected to have known that operating the vessel without a reporting schedule in place would put the crew at unnecessary risk and so he would know that an offence was being committed by the company when the vessel put to sea."
He said a registrar would fix a date for sentencing.
He said he would be assisted by victim impact report and he would consider reparation, so would require full financial details of the company.
- NZPA
