Posted on 02/19/2024 3:53:16 PM PST by RandFan
A migrant who was navigating an inflatable boat when it started sinking in the Channel has been found responsible for the death of four people. The unprecedented case raised complex questions about whether the asylum seeker who piloted the boat could be blamed for the drownings, in 2022.
Ibrahima Bah was convicted after two trials at Canterbury Crown Court - the first time a migrant who navigated an inflatable has been found responsible for harm caused to other occupants.
Canterbury Crown Court heard 39 people, including Bah, had been rescued about 200m (650ft) inside British waters on 14 December 2022.
Thirty-one were brought on board a British fishing trawler, towards which Bah had steered the dinghy.
Others were saved by two lifeboats assisted by a Royal Navy patrol.
Kent Police have been able to confirm the identity of only one of the men who died, Ahmadi Herjatullah.
The body of a fifth believed to have drowned has never been found.
Over the course of two trials in the past year, prosecutors told jurors Bah could be held responsible for the deaths of the four recovered bodies because he had been part of a criminal agreement to pilot the unseaworthy vessel or had failed in his duty of care to keep everyone safe.
Bah said he was not the skipper but just one of some 40 desperate people trying to claim asylum in the UK.
The jury in the first trial, last July, failed to reach verdicts, triggering a retrial.
Bah left Senegal in 2019 and spent two years in Libya. It's not clear how old he is due to uncertainty about his date of birth - but there is no dispute that he was an adult by the time of his trial.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
The twists and turns folks go through to pretend this isn't about the unfettered mass immigration caused by our benevolent asylum, immigration, amnesty, illegal (but we won't do anything about it) policies.
Everyone knows there is a problem.
But no one has the “balls” to take the appropriate action to stop it because it might look bad.
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