Yacht couple convicted of smuggling Ethiopian refugees

A 52-year-old yacht skipper convicted of smuggling two Ethiopian refugees into Cayman was on Thursday sentenced to four years in jail.

His wife, 39, said to have played a lesser role, was jailed for 40 months.

The court heard the couple’s baby daughter, who was also on board, is now a ward of the High Court of England and Wales.

Chief Magistrate Angelyn Hernandez said it was clear the pair, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had deliberately broken the law for profit when they agreed to transport Kedir Osama Musa and Tilahum Assafa Bruke, who were abused throughout the voyage, to other countries.

She added, “The court observed these men and the impact of their experience was obvious.

“One cried when he was asked to speak of what he experienced on that boat.”

The court heard earlier the two refugees were abused, shouted at, subjected to racist taunts such as “monkey” and kept short of food and water.

The yacht captain and his wife were also convicted of illegal landing and failure to complete a disembarkation card.

The man was sentenced to 18 months in jail for illegal landing and his wife was jailed for 12 months.

He also got six months for failure to complete a disembarkation card and his wife was given four months for the offence.

The two appeared by video link from the Summary Court cells because of their refusal to cooperate and disruption of proceedings.

Hernandez ordered the sentences to run concurrently and said the 16 weeks the couple had spent in custody should be deducted from sentences.

She told the defendants the financial gain they had made was “an aggravating factor”.

Hernandez ordered the confiscation of the yacht and the US$3,946 found on it.

A compensation order of US$1,500 each was made for the two refugees, with the remaining US$946 to go towards Crown costs.

Prosecutor Ben Brown said afterwards: “It was an extremely unusual case and a very welcome result.

“It’s a very sad case whichever way you look at it and the judge has approached it in exactly the correct way. I’m very pleased.”

Hernandez earlier asked the two, who refused legal representation, if they wanted to give evidence in their defence.

The pair had denied the legitimacy of the court and insisted they did not recognise its authority.