Ibrahima Bah, a migrant who operated a dinghy where four passengers died in the English Channel, has been given a jail term of nine years and six months for manslaughter. It is the first time that a migrant responsible for navigating an inflatable boat has been found guilty of causing harm to other occupants. Bah, whose age is in dispute, was sentenced as if he were 20 years old, with two-thirds of his term to be served in custody at a Young Offenders Institution before he is moved to adult custody.
Bah was convicted on Monday of manslaughter following the deaths of the migrants during an attempted crossing in December 2020. The judged advised the key responsibility for the offences should fall on the people smugglers who associated themselves with the vessel, which they describe as “wholly unsafe and unsatisfactory.” However, the judge added that Bah was also inadvertent for the tragedies, as he holds a “high culpability” for the catastrophe.
The Senegalese migrant asserted that he was forced by aggressive smugglers to make the journey to the UK. Since he navigated the boat, he owed his fellow passengers a “duty of care,” according to Duncan Atkinson KC, the prosecutor. The inflatable was not seaworthy, and there was inadequate safety equipment such as life jackets, flares or radio on board.
Bah carried on despite the neighbors’ requests to turn back, as he made the crossing exchange of a free passage. He told the docks that he altered his belief about piloting the dinghy when he arrived at a beach and saw the vessel was too small for the number of passengers
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