An asylum seeker found guilty of manslaughter after four migrants on board his “not remotely seaworthy” boat drowned will be detained for nine years and six months.
During a trial at Canterbury Crown Court, Ibrahima Bah, who is over 18, said smugglers threatened to kill him if he did not pilot the boat, which set off on 14 December 2022.
But prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC said the Senegalese national was not telling the truth.
He said that while the majority of travellers paid thousands of euros to smugglers for a spot in the overcrowded vessel, it appeared Bah did not pay for his journey because he piloted the dingy, therefore owing his fellow passengers a “duty of care”.
Campaigners are expected to protest the conviction at the Home Office on Friday evening, arguing it represents a “violent escalation in the persecution of migrants to ‘Stop the Boats'”.
The prosecution said Bah was not trained or licensed to lead the voyage and there was insufficient safety equipment such as life jackets and no flares or radio on board.
Jurors were told the homemade, low-quality inflatable had a capacity of 20 people, but Bah tried to carry at least 43 people across the English Channel that night.
The boat in which four passengers drowned in the English Channel. Pic: PA
When the boat got into trouble, a number of migrants inside the boat described water reaching their knees within 30 minutes of leaving the French coast, the court heard.
A total of 39 survivors were brought to shore, while the exact number of migrants who drowned is unknown as the prosecution said at least one migrant’s body may not have been recovered.
Three of the people who died were known only as unknown male persons while the other man was named as Hajratullah Ahmadi.
One asylum seeker, Amrullah Ahmadzai, described to jurors how everyone on the boat was screaming and trying to call for help on their mobile phones during the journey, before being rescued by a UK fishing boat.
The crew on the fishing boat tried to rescue the passengers, with help from the RNLI, air ambulance and UK Border Force.
Bah was found guilty of four counts of manslaughter by jurors by a majority verdict of 10 to two in what is believed to be the first conviction of its kind on Monday.
He was also found unanimously guilty of facilitating illegal entry to the UK.
The boat in which four passengers drowned in the English Channel. Pic: PA
Sentencing Bah on Friday, Mr Justice Johnson KC, said: “The boat was wholly inadequate, and not remotely seaworthy for a Channel crossing.
“It was a death trap, just as every boat of its type which sets off across the Channel in similar circumstances is a death trap – the fact that in many cases fatalities do not occur is not remotely reassuring.
“What happened is an utter tragedy for those who died and for their families.”
Supporters of Bah attended the sentencing and are expected to hold a protest outside the Home Office in London on Friday evening.
Following the verdict on Monday, Captain Support UK, a solidarity platform for those accused of driving boats to Europe, said Bah’s conviction was a “violent escalation in the persecution of migrants to ‘Stop the Boats'”.
However, Illegal Immigration Minister Michael Tomlinson said on X: “Ibrahima Bah put dozens of lives in extreme danger by taking charge of a perilous and illegal small boat crossing. It is right that he has been brought to justice today.
“Once you get into a small boat, criminal gangs don’t care whether you live or die.”
