THE skipper of a Spanish fishing vessel, the Sea Horse, which was involved in a fatal collision with the Exodus, a Castletownbere trawler, pleaded guilty at a district court in Bantry to offences under the Marine Shipping Act of 1894.
In the collision on March 9th, Mr Danny O'Driscoll, the skipper of the trawler, was killed. Two of his crewmen, Mr Pat Joe O'Driscoll and Mr Redmond Kiry, survived.
At yesterday's hearing in Bantry, Mr Francisco Couzes Inglesias (40), with an address at La Coruna in northwest Spain, pleaded guilty to a charge that while his vessel was under way it failed to keep out of the way of a vessel that was fishing nearby.
Mr Inglesias was fined £750 by Judge Brendan Wallace and ordered to pay £500 expenses.
His solicitor, Mr Rory Conway, said it was accepted that the Sea Horse should have allowed sufficient space between it and the Exodus, but added that the auto pilot on board the Spanish vessel had failed and that this was the cause of the accident.
Mr Conway said his clients were extremely sorry that the accident had occurred. Two other charges under the Shipping Act were withdrawn.
The court was told the Sea Horse, bound for Milford Haven, was steaming at more than 10 knots when it struck the Exodus on its starboard side while it was doing about half that speed.
The maximum fine the court was entitled to impose was £1,000.
Mr O'Driscoll's mother, Mary (80) and his twin sister, Rosemary, attended the hearing.