On the night of November 29 to 30, 2020, a fishing vessel called "Romain Luca" sank off Agde, its home port, resulting in the death of two men.
The skipper-fisherman was prosecuted for manslaughter due to numerous serious faults.
He was sentenced to four years in prison, including two years in prison, a fine of 50,000 euros and a ban on exercising the profession of fishing master for five years.
A 63-year-old fisherman was sentenced to four years' imprisonment, two of which were suspended.
He was also fined 50,000 euros.
The Béziers Criminal Court ordered the confiscation of 25,580 euros which had been seized during the preliminary investigation.
The skipper-fisherman is prohibited from exercising the profession of fishing skipper for five years.
The court also ruled on the numerous civil party applications for the purpose of compensating the families of the victims.
On the night of November 29 to 30, 2020, a fishing vessel called "Romain Luca" sank off Agde, its home port, with three men on board.
The fisherman captain had managed to save himself miraculously, the two crewmen, two brothers aged 23 and 33, had perished in the sinking.
Released for the crime of insurance fraud
The investigation had uncovered many serious misconduct by the boss which justified his conviction for manslaughter.
He was also convicted of carrying out concealed work by illegally employing the youngest sailor, between June 1, 2016 and November 29, 2020.
On November 28, 2022, at the hearing, the public prosecutor Raphaël Balland had on the other hand requested the release of the sea-fisherman boss for the insurance fraud, for which the defendant was also prosecuted.
The civil parties had put forward the hypothesis of a double murder
During the hearing, the lawyers for the civil parties (the families of the victims) had asked for the case to be referred to an investigating judge, hypothesizing a double murder, evoking a possible motive for jealousy: the ex-companion of the sailor-fisherman boss had gotten into a relationship with one of the two victim brothers.
The prosecution had opposed this request, considering that the hypothesis of a homicidal intent was not based on any evidence.
The fisherman and his lawyer have ten days to appeal against this conviction.
Justice
Agde: Two years firm required against the boss after the death of two sailors
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Béziers: Opening of the trial of the sinking of the "Romain Luca"
Justice
Agde
Beziers
Occitania
Languedoc Roussillon
Sin
sinking