Ship tragedy case closed

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By CHARLES MOI and JUNIOR UKAHA
A COURT case to determine who was responsible for the sinking of the mv Rabaul Queen six years ago off Finschhafen, Morobe, in which 172 people went missing, has been closed.
Public Prosecutor Pondros Kaluwin, in a letter to the National Court in Kokopo dated August 13, stated that he had declined to lay charges against Peter Sharp, Grace Amen and Anthony Tsiau in relation to the sea disaster on Feb 2, 2012.
Sharp, the owner of the ship, and Tsiau, the master of the vessel, had been cleared of the 172 manslaughter charges in July last year.
The pending charges were related to the sending and taking of the vessel to sea on that day:
Grace Amen, of Duke of York Islands, Rabaul, East New Britain, on the first day of Feb 2012, at Kimbe, West New Britain, “sent the mv Rabaul Queen to sea in a state that that the lives of the person on board were likely to be endangered”.
Anthony Matasir Tsuau, of Carterets islands, Autonomous Region of Bougainville, on the first day of Feb 2012, at Kimbe, West New Britain, being the master of the mv Rabaul Queen, “took the ship to sea in such an unseaworthy state that the lives of the persons on board were likely to be endangered”;
Peter Robert Sharp, of Shetland Islands ,United Kingdom, on the first day of Feb 2012, at Kimbe, West New Britain, “sent the mv Rabaul Queen to sea in such a state that the lives of the persons on board were likely to be endangered”.
Kaluwin informed the National Court that he had declined to pursue the charges against the three. The matter was heard by National Court judge Panuel Mogish on Aug 13 in Kokopo. The case was attended by the defence lawyers and a lawyer from the public prosecutor’s office.
Efforts to get a comment from Kaluwin on why the charges were not pursued were unsuccessful.
Efforts were also made to get a comment from Attorney-General and Justice Minister Davis Steven.
A source familiar with the matter said it was beyond the judge’s duty to do anything once the public prosecutor’s office had refused to pursue the matter further.
“The court sat, accepted the submission of the public prosecutor’s lawyer and acquitted the three,” the source said.
“The Constitution doesn’t allow the judge to tell the public prosecutor’s office to do their job.”
Sharp, Amen and Tsiau were initially charged with “sending an unworthy ship to sea, endangering the lives of the people on board”.
The State had called 130 witnesses and tendered 105 exhibits with trips made to Morobe, East New Britain, Autonomous Region of Bougainville and West New Britain.
Sharp and Tsiau were acquitted of the 172 manslaughter charges following a no-case submission made by Sharp’s lawyer David Cooper and Tsiau’s lawyer Philip Kaluwin.
The State did not pursue the manslaughter case against co-accused Amen, who is the company’s Kimbe branch manager.