An asylum seeker who escaped before the fatal sinking of a boat says people smugglers earlier told his family to wear smart clothes for travel on a "five-star" vessel.
But it was all a lie, Iraqi-born Adam Namu told a Brisbane court on Monday.
The 40-year-old was testifying at the trial of Maythem Kamil Radhi, who is accused of facilitating the proposed entry of at least five non-citizens into Australia between July and October 2001.
Mr Namu escaped from a boat that came to be known as Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel X (SIEV-X) before it sank on October 19, 2001, leading to a "significant number of lives being lost", the Brisbane Supreme Court has heard.
Talking about an earlier part of his journey from Iraq via Jordan, Malaysia and Indonesia, Mr Namu said his family had to walk from a boat to land, with the sea water at chest height, after the engine failed.
"God saved us from drowning," Mr Namu told the court through an interpreter.
Before embarking from Malaysia to Indonesia the people smugglers said the asylum seekers should wear something smart for the journey as they would be in a five-star boat.
"It was all a lie. It was just a small fishing boat," Mr Namu said.
He told the court United Nations officials intervened after his arrest in Indonesia because money had not been paid to an army officer.
Mr Namu said he then negotiated with people smuggler Abu Quassey - who had become well known for organising a successful boat trip to Australia - to pay $US700 per person to escape with his sister and her children.
He was assured the boat they would travel on was "good", but Mr Namu questioned whether it would reach its destination as soon as he saw it.
"There is no space to sit. We were 400 people in a small fishing boat," he told the court.
Mr Namu was among 23 people who paid fishermen on another boat to take them back to Indonesia before the SIEV-X sank.
The Crown alleges Radhi was not the kingpin of the group that tried to bring the non-citizens into Australia, but instead one of those who helped the leader Abu Quassey.
The 46-year-old is accused of doing one or more things like collecting money, arranging buses, visiting places where passengers stayed before the journey, and helping organise people at the vessel's departure point on the beach.
Defence barrister Mark McCarthy said prosecutors needed to prove Radhi's alleged involvement was over several months from July 1, 2001.
He told jurors to ask themselves during deliberations whether evidence showed that what Radhi did was done with the intention to facilitate the proposed entry into Australia of the group of at least five people, while reminding them the events occurred more than two decades ago.
The trial before Justice Lincoln Crowley continues on Tuesday.
