A schoolgirl was killed in a speedboat crash after a “grossly negligent” skipper ignored safety rules and smashed into a large buoy at more than 40mph, a court heard.
Michael Lawrence, who was highly experienced and qualified, is accused of taking risks by performing stunts before he ploughed into the metal buoy on Southampton Water, Hampshire, during what was meant to be a “high thrills” ride.
The smash threw passengers overboard, leaving some with broken bones and killing 15-year-old Emily Lewis after her chest was crushed against a metal handle.
Lawrence, 55, “wasn’t paying attention and was distracted” or “miscalculated” a turn during the “extremely dangerous” ride, a jury at Winchester crown court heard.
He had initially blamed the accident on his Covid face mask being blown up by the wind and covering his eyes, but days later “changed his story” and said he had had a momentary loss of vision, the jury was told.
Michael Howley, 52, the owner of Seadogz Rib Charter Ltd, is also on trial facing a safety charge.
The crash happened at about 10am on 22 August 2020. Emily was onboard the boat – called Seadogz – with her mother, Nikki, father, Simon, and older sister Amy, then 18.
Jurors heard that after the crash Emily was saying she could not breathe, was scared and her lips were blue, but that Lawrence paced up and down the boat “not appearing to assist anyone and stepping over those in his way”.
The schoolgirl, from Park Gate, near Southampton, died at Southampton general hospital later that day from chest injuries.
Opening the case, Christine Agnew KC, prosecuting, said Lawrence’s behaviour had been “truly, exceptionally bad and grossly negligent”.
Agnew told jurors: “This was to be a high thrills ride. Tragically it was both a high thrills and ultimately an extremely dangerous ride which ended with the death of Emily.
“She died from internal injuries she sustained by being crushed against the metal handle immediately in front of her when the boat crashed head on into a buoy … which Michael Lawrence appears not to have seen.
“Perhaps because he wasn’t paying attention and was distracted, or because he was planning to take a sharp turn around it and because he wasn’t paying close enough attention, he miscalculated the turn. In either event, the prosecution say his actions that day fell far below those of a competent skipper.”
Agnew continued: “Lawrence was heard to say on a number of occasions both on the day and later that the face mask he had been wearing had blown up and covered his eyes.” But he allegedly changed his account when footage emerged on social media.
She said: “Perhaps he began to appreciate that his explanation about the mask did not provide a credible explanation for why he drove straight at the buoy for as long as he did – at least 10 seconds.
“By the time he was questioned in the days that followed by police officers about what had happened he had changed his story; he claimed he had had some sort of blackout.
“The prosecution’s case is that despite his experience, or maybe even because of it, he took risks he should not have done and failed to observe basic safe practice whilst skippering the Rib when he alone was responsible for the safety of and owed a duty of care to the 11 other people onboard.
“It is the crown’s case that the actions of Lawrence that August afternoon were truly exceptionally bad, grossly negligent and caused the death of Emily.”
Emily’s father, Simon, said: “The buoy was dead ahead … We hit the buoy and the boat glanced to the right, I was thrown forward very violently. Em was scooched down in front of her seat in almost like a foetal position.
“Emily was unconscious and unable to speak and that was the first time I noticed her lips, which turned blue.”
Simon Lewis said he became scared and asked Lawrence about the rising water level in the boat. “He made a derisory scoff at me as if to say: ‘Well we are not going to sink are we?’” He said it felt like “an hour” before they were transferred to land.
At hospital Emily’s family later made the decision to turn her life-support machine off after being told she had severe brain damage. Simon Lewis said he and his family made the decision because that was “not how Emily would have wished to live”.
Of Howley, Agnew said: “Howley, by failing to ensure that his Rib was operated in a safe manner, ie by not having in place policies and procedures which would adequately protect the passengers, is also guilty of a less serious offence.”
Lawrence, of Blackfield in the New Forest, Hampshire, denies manslaughter by gross negligence, failure to maintain a proper lookout as master of the boat, and failing to proceed at a safe speed while operating the boat.
Howley, of Hordle, New Forest, denies “failing to take all reasonable steps to secure the boat operated in a safe manner”.
The trial continues.
