Fishing deaths case opens after 4 years

FOUR years after the deaths of two Irish fishermen in a collision between their boat and a French trawler the case will finally go to court today.

At 9 a.m. the procurator of the marine court in Lorient, France, will read out the charges against crew members of the 100 foot steel hulled Agena. The trawler struck the 60 foot wooden vessel Orchidee, breaking it up, early on September 20th, 1992, about 65 miles south west of Milford Haven in an area known as The Smalls.

The two men who died were Mr Jimmy Power (28), of Coxtown, Dunmore East, Co Waterford, who was skipper and owner of the vessel, and Mr Bobby Doran (19), of Bridgetown, Co Wexford. Mr Power was married with two young children. A third crewman, Mr Ken Pierce, also of Bridgetown, was rescued soon afterwards by the Agena.

Mr Pierce (27) will give evidence. Mr Power's widow, Mrs Tracey Power, will also be in court for the proceedings. An assistant principal officer from the marine safety division of the Department of the Marine and a diplomat from the Irish Embassy in Paris will be in court to monitor the proceedings.

It is expected that two of the 11 crew members on board the French vessel will face manslaughter charges, but this could not be confirmed. According to Department of the Marine sources the charges will be known only when the proceedings start. The Department of the Marine carried out its own investigation into the incident but co operated with the French in their inquiry.

A verdict is expected by lunchtime today, although there is a possibility that it may take two days. However, if there are technical disputes the case will be adjourned until November 15th.

The families of the victims are critical of the French authorities for what they say is delay in completing the investigation and a lack of co operation.

Mr Ger Doran, father of Bobby Doran, said they were "hoping that at last we'll see something done". Mr Doran said that for his family "things will never be the same again." He added: "Anybody who has lost a son or daughter will understand this. It happened four years ago last Sunday but passing time has made no difference to the feeling in our house. Bobby won't be properly laid to rest until this is over."

He said the Irish boat was "lying to" waiting until dawn to start prawn fishing when the French vessel hit it and virtually ripped it in two. "Something went wrong," he said. "The boat kept travelling at Full speed for seconds after the collision, which is inexplicable."

At the time of the accident Mr Ger Doran was fishing 30 miles away. "It was a fine night. There was good visibility and no reason why it should have happened.

"We saw the wreckage afterwards and some of it was no bigger than match ends, and some was the same size as a kitchen table."

Mr Doran said it took 25 days to find Mr Power's body and 79 days to find his son. "All that was found were partial remains, only bones, but they were precious to us.

Mr Hugh Byrne, Fianna Fail TD for Wexford, who has raised the issue in the Dail 17 times, said yesterday he was disappointed that the Government was not sending a parliamentary representative to the court.

Mr Byrne complained about the way the French investigation was carried out. "The case is finally coming to court four years later, which is absolutely crazy."