Three Migrant Boat Captains Jailed 7 Years for Deadly El Hierro Voyage
Three individuals were sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison in Santa Cruz de Tenerife for captaining a dangerously overcrowded migrant boat that arrived in El Hierro with 47 passengers, resulting in one death and two injuries due to unsafe conditions.
A court in Santa Cruz de Tenerife has sentenced three people to seven years and eight months in prison. They were found guilty of being the captains of a boat that reached El Hierro on June 24, 2024. The boat carried 47 passengers, including two children traveling alone, one person who died, and two who were injured.
Their sentence includes five years for violating the rights of foreign citizens, two years for causing a death through negligence, and four months for each of the two injured people.
The court found that the three defendants, working with others who haven't been identified, arranged the journey from Nouakchott, Mauritania, to the Canary Islands. They charged money to people from Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Ivory Coast, and Cameroon for this trip.
They used a boat that was 13 meters long and 3 meters wide, powered by two engines.
After a trial in early December, the court concluded that the three defendants acted as captains. This included steering the boat and using a GPS to set and follow the route.
They were also convicted because they knew there wasn't enough food or water, the boat was dangerously overcrowded, passengers didn't have life jackets, and the boat itself had problems. All these factors put the passengers' lives at risk.
The person who died suffered from multi-organ failure. Two other migrants were taken to El Hierro Hospital. One had severe dehydration and ulcers, staying in the hospital for three days. The other was treated for constipation and released soon after.
The defense lawyers argued that an autopsy wasn't done to find the exact cause of death. They pointed out that the only evidence was a visual inspection of the body, which witnesses said weighed 50 kilos, the same as when the journey began. Because of this, the expert witness admitted that the cause of death couldn't be determined.
The defense also highlighted other issues with the legal process, especially when statements were taken from passengers to identify the defendants. They noted that one passenger claimed the police offered him help with his immigration status if he cooperated.
Another criticism was that witnesses didn't have interpreters during identification lineups. The court responded that the witnesses were always with their lawyers, and no complaints about this were recorded.
The defense asked for one piece of evidence to be thrown out because it hadn't been translated into the correct dialect. However, this request was denied because the witness in question appeared at the trial at the request of both the defense and the prosecution.
In summary, the conviction stems from the six-day journey itself, which "endangered the lives of all travelers due to the boat's condition, the lack of navigation and safety gear, and insufficient food and water, even though they thankfully reached the Spanish coast safely."
The court rejected the prosecution's request for 150,000 euros in compensation for the deceased person's family. The court stated that the beneficiaries were unknown, and it was impossible to calculate any potential damages.
However, the court noted that funeral expenses could be reimbursed. The injured person was not offered compensation, even though the prosecution had asked for about 600 euros for them.