(CNS): Sean Michael McDonald (39) has been found guilty of two counts of manslaughter and one of endangering life in connection with a fatal overnight boating accident in the North Sound near the canal Harbor House three years ago. Manuel “Manny” Brown (49), a former police officer from George Town, and his associate John Turner (70), a British national living in Cayman Islands, who were on board the Hurricane Godfrey, were both killed in the collision. Shamilla Wright, who was also on board that boat, suffered life-changing injuries.
Judge Cheryll Richards found that McDonald, who was the head of the Pepper Jelly on August 11, 2019 with passengers, all of whom survived the crash largely uninjured, was responsible for the fatal collision. She said he was driving too fast, not watching properly, and not taking necessary evasive action.
Next to a trial by judge alone which she presided over in March this year, Judge Richards delivered her verdict on Tuesday and explained why she had found that McDonald’s was “reckless and negligent” in its operation of the boat to such an extent that he was criminally liable and guilty of manslaughter and endangering life.
Although his passport was seized, McDonald, a long-term permanent resident, was allowed to remain on bail until his sentencing, which is not expected until November due to a number of reports requested by the court and the availability of lawyers.
Reading part of a judgment, which she said was over 100 pages, the judge explained how she was sure McDonald was at fault for the collision. He had denied the charges but did not speak during the trial. However, his interview with the police shortly after the accident was entered into evidence and an expert witness testified on his behalf to refute a report on the details and reconstruction of the collision made by the Crown’s technical expert. .
But the judge said she concluded that the prosecution’s expert, US marine accident investigator Patrick Michael Neal, was the most reliable witness because James Crawford, the McDonald’s expert, had no not had the opportunity to carry out such a thorough and rapid examination of the wreckage of the two boats as Néal. She also said Crawford was less objective in his findings.
Neal had discovered that the Pepper Jelly struck the bow of the smaller boat, mounted it and hit the helm, effectively rolling over the Hurricane Godfrey before capsizing. After being hit, the Hurricane Godfrey moved through the water and crashed into a dike. The technical evidence also revealed that the Pepper Jelly was at full throttle when the accident occurred, while the smaller boat’s throttle was positioned between a third and a half.
Crawford had suggested that since there was no speed limit in the area where the crash occurred, the matter of speed was a matter for the captain’s judgment.
In his statement to police, McDonald claimed he was doing no more than 20 to 25 miles per hour at the time, but GPS recorded the boat sped up to 50 mph just before the crash. McDonald had also admitted that driving his boat at over 40mph is “starting to get scary”, showing that he was well aware that such speed would pose a danger to other users, a point noted by Judge Richards in her ruling. .
McDonald also said he saw no lights from a nearby vessel as he approached the harbor house marina channel and did not see the Hurricane Godfrey until just before the accident, when he was only five feet from his boat.
The question of whether or not the Hurricane Godfrey was properly lit was an important part of McDonald’s defense. Harbor House Marina CCTV had captured the accident on video, and although it was not possible to see the collision clearly, it showed a bright light on the Hurricane Godfrey. McDonald had argued that it was not necessarily visible to those on board the Pepper jelly.
But Judge Richards said if McDonald had kept a “good lookout”, as he told police, he would have seen the Hurricane Godfrey approaching “on her port side well before the collision, even if the lights of the Hurricane were positioned in such a way as to be difficult to see”.
She said the “speed at which he was traveling would, on his own account, have made it difficult to see over the bow of the boat at night”, while noting the main issues that led to his guilty verdict.
This was compounded by McDonald’s decision not to testify during the trial. “I’m sure the real reason he didn’t testify was because he didn’t have an answer that he thought would stand up to questioning,” Judge Richards said.
McDonald, the owner of the charter company that owned the boat, was an experienced captain and very knowledgeable about the North Sound. The judge said that, given his knowledge and experience, approaching the channel at such a dangerous speed under the circumstances prevailing at night without proper supervision was a breach of his duty of care to other users in the water to a criminal extent.
‘I find his seagoing conduct on this vessel to be well below the standards which would be expected of someone in his position, with his experience and responsibilities,’ Judge Richards said. “By operating the vessel at the speed at which he did, he did so in a manner which can only be described as reckless or negligent, in such a way as to endanger human life.”
