Ship captain in tanker crash awaits jury's verdict

A jury at the Old Bailey has retired to consider its verdict in the trial of a ship's captain accused of killing a crew member in a collision.

Vladimir Motin was the only person on watch duty on the Solong when it hit US tanker Stena Immaculate off the East Yorkshire coast on 10 March 2025, leaving Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, missing presumed dead.

Motin, 59, from Primorsky in St Petersburg, Russia, denies a charge of gross negligence manslaughter.

The prosecution allege the defendant "did absolutely nothing" to avoid the collision despite the ship being visible on radar and from the Solong's bridge.

Crown barrister Tom Little KC told the jury the trial was about "the entirely avoidable death of a seaman".

"Ultimately, he would still be alive if it was not for the grossly negligent behaviour of the defendant," the barrister said.

In his evidence, Motin said he had sighted the ship and went to switch to manual control of the steering, but it did not work and he had crashed into the ship.

Defence barrister James Leonard KC told the jury there is no doubt that the defendant was at fault but added that a "human error", a "bad mistake", or "error of judgement" did not amount to gross negligence.

Summing up the evidence, Mr Justice Andrew Baker said the jury could take all the time they needed to reach their verdict.

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