Attorneys for the captains whose vessels were involved in the August 2, 2003 boating accident off Eleuthera are appealing a recent ruling by a Supreme Court judge who determined that the captains could be called to testify in the Wreck Commission.
The attorneys maintain that if the captains were to testify, they could incriminate themselves.
They believe that Supreme Court Justice Anita Allen “essentially erred in law” in holding that the Wreck Commissioner could both summon and compel parties to testify in the proceedings.
Justice Allen earlier this month ruled in lead counsel Cheryl Grant-Bethel’s favour in her determination that parties – like Sea Hauler Captain Allan Russell Sr.- could be called to testify.
Mrs. Grant-Bethel believes that calling the captains to the stand would shed more light on the circumstances surrounding the boating tragedy that killed four people when a hydraulic crane careened to the Sea Hauler’s deck following a collision with the United Star. More than 20 others were injured.
Key witnesses testifying before the Wreck Commission have revealed that both captains of the vessels were not at their posts at the time of the accident.
The Wreck Commissioner, Justice Joseph Strachan, had ruled earlier that calling the parties could result in them incriminating themselves, as argued by the Sea Hauler and United Star attorneys.
Justice Allen’s ruling, however, cleared the way for the proceedings to resume. Those proceedings faced numerous hurdles since beginning last September.
Several witnesses were called to testify before the Commission last week, including Assistant Port Controller, Cyril Roker; and Gayle Roker, who was severely injured in the accident.
But this latest appeal has brought proceedings to a standstill once again.
Mrs. Grant-Bethel has indicated that if need be, the matter would be taken all the way to the Privy Council, as “it would only be proper for the parties to testify.”
“Apart from following the law, [the ruling] follows a common-sense approach that the persons who saw and who were intimately involved in what happened that night should come before the Wreck Commissioner’s inquiry and say what happened,” she said while speaking to reporters immediately following the Supreme Court ruling.
A date has not yet been set for the Court of Appeal hearing.
Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
