Tongan ferry sinking trial begins

Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Four men, including a New Zealand businessman, today went on trial for manslaughter following a fatal Tongan ferry sinking last year.

The Princess Ashika sank on August 5, killing 74 people.

The shipping company's managing director, New Zealander John Jonesse, was on trial in the Tongan Magistrates Court in Nuku'alofa, alongside the ship's captain, first mate and a senior public servant.

The four were charged with the manslaughter of 21-year-old Tongan woman Vae Fetu'u Taufa, and with sending and taking an unseaworthy ship to sea.

Jonesse, the former chief executive of Shipping Corporation of Polynesia who advised Tonga authorities to buy the vessel, was also charged with using a forged document.

Possible penalties include up to 25 years in prison.

A Royal Commission inquiry into the sinking heard repeatedly that the unseaworthy vessel's purchase was marked by a lack of process, an absence of due diligence and the use of forged documents.

The commission's final report said it was "alarming" the Shipping Corporation of Polynesia recommended the ferry's purchase "without any proper due diligence, surveys, inspections, valuations, documentation or proper inquiry having been completed".

It also said: "Mr Jonesse was reported as saying in the press that the vessel was in very good condition. He now accepts having regard to the evidence that Ashika was unseaworthy from the time he first inspected it in Fiji."

- NZPA