Liner’s sinking: police decide not to prosecute

Press, 29 July 1986, Page 1

Liner’s sinking: police decide not to prosecute

By

PATRICIA HERBERT

and RODGER KINGSBURY

High costs and difficulties in assembling evidence have persuaded the police against prosecuting Captain Don Jamison on charges arising from the sinking of the Mikhail Lermontov.

Announcing the decision yesterday, the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr Stuart McEwen, said the most serious charge considered was manslaughter for “the apparent loss of life” of the Russian cruise liner’s refrigeration engineer, Mr Pavel Zaglyadinov, but that no criminal proceedings could be taken on this count as the body had not been recovered.

"We would have to have a body to be able to establish a cause of death," he said. Without it, the police could not prove the man had died through any omission or negligence by Captain Jamison as pilot. It might have been that once the call to abandon ship had been made, the missing seaman had gone back to his cabin to collect his personal belongings and had been trapped there.

“If the circumstances were like that, then there is no linkage between the alleged error on the part of Captain Jamison and the death of the crewman,” Mr McEwen said.

Police divers had searched the wreck, checking the compartments in which Mr Zaglyadinov was most likely to be found and were “80 per cent sure" he was not there. They had been un-

able to extend their search into other places where he might have retreated because they were “too far in and too dark.”

In the circumstances, the only charge on which a prosecution might be laid was under section 229 of the Harbours Act, Mr McEwen said.

This provides for “any breaches or neglect by a pilot tending to the immediate loss, destruction or serious damage of a ship or tending immediately to endanger the life or limb of any person on board.”

The marine inquiry into the accident sheeted responsibility to Captain Jamison, then the Marlborough Harbour Board’s chief pilot and now its Harbourmaster, saying he grounded the Mikhail Lermontov by deciding without consultation to take it through the narrow Cape Jackson passage. Mr McEwen said yesterday that “notwithstanding some legal formalities," a prima facie case could probably be established against Captain Jamison under the act but that the charge was “not all that serious.”

This he said, was reflected in the maximum penalties the law provided — two years imprisonment or a fine of $lOOO. It was apparently at this point that the issue of

expense became more relevant. Mr McEwen said the police carefully weighed all aspects of the matter and “came to the conclusion that the cost of further inquiries and mounting a prosecution were not warranted.

“While the police appreciate the view that the costs of justice should not be measured in financial terms, in this case it had to be considered.”

The police would have needed Russian crew as witnesses and although the Soviet authorities had offered to make them available if New Zealand paid the fares, there might have been problems in finding them and getting, them here if a defended hearing was set down in two or three months. “There would be enormous logistical difficulties in locating and transporting the four crucial Russian crew members to New Zealand. That is always assuming they are willing to travel as there is no legal I compulsion upon them to do so,” Mr McEwen .said.

i Costs involved in bringing them to New Zealand from Moscow would have been at least $56,000.

Mr McEwen said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been advised of the decision and. he assumed the Russians would

be advised today. The police inquiry into the sinking was now closed, he said, but if the body was found they would “take another look and that would certainly be in terms of manslaughter.” In their inquiries to date they had not spoken to Captain Jamison because his solicitor had indicated he was not prepared to allow them to interview him.

“That’s a real blessing,” was the first comment made by the chairman of the Marlborough Harbour Board, Mr B. J. Dalliessi, when told of the decision yesterday afternoon. “I am thrilled for Captain Jamison because the police investigation into the matter would have been a heavy weight on his shoulders and those of his family since the incident. Now that that is removed I feel that he will be much happier."

Mr Dalliessi said the board would naturally be very relieved that a serious matter regarding a staff member had now been put aside. Captain Jamison said yesterday that he had no comment to make on the decision. When asked if he now felt free to make a public statement on the sinking, he repeated that he had no comment to make on .that either.