Four years in prison, including two suspended sentences, were required on Monday November 28 before the Béziers criminal court against a fisherman owner of a ship which had sunk off Agde (Hérault) at the end of 2020, causing the death of two brothers he employed.
The public prosecutor also requested against this 61-year-old man, captain of the ship, the payment of a fine of 75,000 euros, the confiscation of 25,550 euros seized from his bank account and a five-year ban on practicing professional fishing.
On the night of November 29 to 30, 2020, the fishing vessel "
Romain Luca
" was shipwrecked and only the captain could be rescued.
He appeared on Monday for "
manslaughter by the manifestly deliberate violation of obligations of safety or prudence in the context of work
".
He was also prosecuted for "
execution of concealed work
" since he illegally employed one of the two brothers who did not have a professional seaman's certificate, as well as for fraudulent insurance.
His lawyer, Guillaume Tarin, pleaded for release and the judgment was reserved for January 2.
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Irregularities
From the start, the investigators had highlighted certain irregularities: the navigation permit only authorized two people on board and the wreckage had been found well beyond the 5-mile threshold that the vessel was not allowed to exceed.
On safety, the captain refrained "
from alerting the emergency services when the circumstances
demanded it", did not ask his fishermen, two brothers aged 23 and 33, to put on their work clothes. with integrated buoyancy and did not launch the life raft, had detailed during the dismissal of the fishing boss in correctional the prosecutor of Béziers, Raphaël Balland.
Before the judge, the fisherman once again assured that he had done everything to save his two sailors, who had clung to the hull but "
did not resist
".
“
I saw them go down and thought it was my turn.
And all of a sudden, I saw the buoy, then the beacon.
I triggered it and was saved afterwards
,” he explained.
