Sailors given two-month jail sentences over drunken incident

A yacht captain and his shipmate have been given two-month jail sentences for being drunk while erratically sailing a pleasure boat at Dublin Port.

Dublin Fire Brigade, a tugboat, a RNLI lifeboat and gardaí were involved in the incident on the Liffey and the port’s shipping lane on June 1st, 2017.

The sailors, on a small 26ft quarter tonne pleasure craft named the Peja, refused to get out of the shipping lane and delayed the approach of the Corinthian, a 90m 4,000 tonne cruise liner, Dublin District Court heard.

On Thursday, Judge John Hughes imposed sentences of three months, with the final month suspended in each case, and both were fined €1,000.

The Peja’s owner and yacht club member Brian Stacey (46) of Derry Drive, Crumlin and co-defendant Ronan Stephens (42), a former motorbike racer from Captain’s Road in Crumlin, were also ordered to complete alcohol awareness courses within six months.

The sailors have lodged an appeal and, pending the outcome, have been released on bail.

The court heard gardaí brought out on the water to help deal with the situation were told to f*** off. The yacht skipper insisted it was his “God-given right” to sail on the Liffey while his co-accused stripped off when he made landfall at Sir John Rogerson Quay where he was arrested naked.

They were found guilty of offences under the Maritime Safety Act. The pleasure boat was seized and destroyed.