Jury out in sea captain’s death crash manslaughter trial
A jury has retired to consider its verdict in the trial of a sea captain accused over the death of a crew member in a North Sea collision.
Russian national Vladimir Motin had been on sole watch duty when the container ship Solong crashed into the Stena Immaculate oil tanker anchored near the Humber Estuary, killing crew member Mark Angelo Pernia, 38.
In his defence, Motin, 59, has said he pressed the wrong button by mistake when he tried to take the Solong out of autopilot and steer away from the Stena Immaculate from one nautical mile away.
Not realising the error, he has told jurors that he proceeded to stop and restart the steering gear to no effect, thinking the Solong could have developed a rudder fault experienced by sister ship, Sanskip Express.
However, the prosecution alleges Motin has lied about what happened and was responsible for multiple failures in the lead-up to the crash.
They allege he failed to sound the alarm, summon help or initiate a crash stop and should have acted sooner to steer the Solong away from its collision course.
On Friday afternoon, Mr Justice Baker summed up the evidence in the trial and sent jurors out to start their deliberations.
Motin, from Primorsky, St Petersburg, has denied gross negligence manslaughter.