Jury out in ship collision trial

Jury out in ship collision trial

Brian Norcutt D'Esterre-Roberts was at the helm

The jury in the trial of a cargo ship master accused of manslaughter after a fatal collision at sea has retired to consider its verdict.

Brian Norcutt D'Esterre-Roberts, 39, was at the helm of the Aquamarine when it was in collision with a smaller ship, the Ash, off Hastings in 2001.

Wolfgram Gross, the 58-year-old captain of the Ash, was winched from the sea but paramedics could not save him.

Mr D'Esterre-Roberts denies manslaughter but admits a charge of breaching or neglecting his duty to prevent his ship colliding with another vessel, causing the loss of the ship or the injury or death of another crew member.

Talking to a cadet

Lewes Crown Court has heard the 4,700 tonne Aquamarine and the 1,000 tonne Ash collided eight miles from the Hastings coast on 9 October 2001.

The Ash was holed below the water line and the crew of six jumped from the ship but Mr Gross, from Germany, lost his life jacket and died in hospital after being winched from the sea by helicopter.

The rest of the crew survived.

Mr D'Esterre-Roberts, from Bally Macus in County Cork, Ireland, has admitted in court he had been talking to a cadet when he should have been watching the sea.

And he said he did not use the radar system on the Dutch ship because it would sometimes lose its target.