A migrant on trial for the manslaughter of four fellow passengers in an “unseaworthy” inflatable boat which he piloted across the English Channel warned “I will either take you there or kill you all”, a court has heard.
Ibrahima Bah is accused of killing four other migrants who drowned while seeking passage from France to the UK on December 14 2022.
At the opening of the re-trial at Canterbury Crown Court today, jurors were told the home-built, low-quality inflatable should have had no more than 20 people on board, but in fact, had been loaded with to at least 43 people across the English Channel on the night in question.
While the majority of travellers paid thousands of euros to smugglers for a spot in the overcrowded vessel, prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC said it appears Bah did not pay for his journey because he piloted the dingy, therefore owing his fellow passengers a “duty of care”.
However, Mr Atkinson said Bah, whose exact age has not been specified but who is over the age of 18, was neither trained or licensed to lead the voyage and there was insufficient safety equipment such as life jackets and no flares or radio on board. Their journey was also navigated using a mobile phone.
Mr Atkinson said: “He, as the pilot, owed to the passengers of that small and vulnerable boat for their safety during the crossing that he had agreed to make.
“He was aware that the boat was overcrowded, lacking in safety equipment and that, as it took in water, that it was increasingly unseaworthy.”
The court heard that when the boat got into trouble a number of migrants inside the boat described water reaching their knees within 30 minutes of leaving the French coastline.
Mr Atkinson said: “Despite these increasing and obvious problems, the defendant continued to head into UK waters.
“Indeed, one passenger considered that the defendant was driving the boat at an unsafe and excessive speed. That passenger also heard him say ‘I will either take you there or kill you all’.”
The jury heard that a crew on a UK fishing boat called the Arcturus came across the sinking boat and tried to rescue the passengers, with help from the RNLI, air ambulance and UK Border Force. A total of 39 survivors were brought to shore in the port of Dover.
The exact number of migrants who drowned is unknown as it appears at least one migrant’s body was not recovered, Mr Atkinson added.
The court heard how Bah told police after the rescue that he travelled from Senegal to Mali, Algeria and then Libya two years earlier, before travelling by boat from Libya to Italy using smugglers.
Bah, who is also accused of facilitating a breach of immigration law, denies all charges.
Yesterday, jurors heard that Bah’s defence is likely to be that he was acting under duress and that he did not know he was facilitating a breach of immigration law. The trial continues.
