An asylum seeker from Senegal was found guilty of manslaughter on Monday after four migrants drowned when the inflatable he was piloting across the Channel sank.
The trial of Ibrahima Bah concluded as United Nations rights chief Volker Turk slammed the UK’s Rwanda plan for migrants, despite the Government’s insistence that it is necessary to stop such deadly crossings.
Bah, whose age was given as over 18, was convicted also of facilitating illegal entry to the UK following a retrial at Canterbury Crown Court in Kent.
The “unseaworthy” home-built dinghy began taking on water not long after Bah had piloted it out of French waters on the night of December 14, 2022, the jurors heard.
The craft should have been carrying no more than 20 people but had at least 43 aboard. Most had paid thousands of pounds to people-smugglers but, according to the prosecution, it appeared that Bah got free passage in return for steering the vessel.
A British fishing boat came to their rescue, backed up by RNLI lifeboat crews and the UK Border Force, but at least four men drowned. A total of 39 survivors were brought to shore in Dover.
Bah was not trained or licensed to lead the voyage, prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC said, and there was insufficient safety equipment such as life jackets, and no flares or radio on board.
Meanwhile, the Safety of Rwanda Bill was back in the House of Lords for committee debate after a succession of peers savaged the Government’s insistence that the East Africa country is a safe destination for migrants, despite an adverse Supreme Court ruling last year.
Mr Turk said that UK courts had a long track record of thoroughly and impartially reviewing Government plans, and stressed: “You cannot legislate facts out of existence.
"It is deeply concerning to carve out one group of people, or people in one particular situation, from the equal protection of the law," the UN official added, calling the Bill a "serious blow to human rights".
But Rishi Sunak says the legislation, by forcing migrants to take a one-way flight to Rwanda, will deter more people from making the perilous journey across the Channel on dangerously unreliable small dinghies.
More than 1,300 asylum seekers have made the journey so far this year, undermining the PM’s pledge to voters to “stop the boats” in the buildup to a General Election this year.
Illegal migration minister Michael Tomlinson on Sunday was adamant that flights will take off to Rwanda “as soon as possible”, despite its rocky passage through the Lords where several peers are bidding to hamper it with amendments.
