Pirates get 24-year terms |16 July 2011

He ordered that all exhibits in the case be forfeited to the state and the weapons and ammunition destroyed under the supervision of the court after 30 days if no appeal is lodged to the Court of Appeal by then.

“The forfeited items presented as exhibits should be auctioned by the police and by way of compensation, the proceeds therefrom equally distributed to the four fishermen whose boat was damaged,” he said.

The judge explained to the pirates he could also have fined them up to R1 million and sentenced them for up to 30 years in jail.

He noted defence lawyer France Bonte asked for leniency saying the Somalis were first offenders.
Mr Bonte later said the pirates got a fair trial.

Mr Gaswaga said the six “forcefully captured and roughed up four Seychellois fishermen before ordering them to manoeuvre the vessel, Gloria, towards Somalia”.

“When intercepted, the accused fired their guns at the Seychelles coast guard vessels, the Andromache and La Fleche,” he said when he sentenced them.

The pirates were said to have been armed with rocket propelled guns as well as AK 47 assault rifles which they identified as their weapons.

“We must not forget that the enormity of the threat that piracy poses to maritime enterprise is phenomenal and has the potential to disrupt international law, order and maritime security environment at sea, which in turn impacts on the international system of trade, the bulk of which is conducted through the maritime medium.

“Failure to deal with piracy may easily give way to drug and human trafficking, gun running, illegal fishing and environmental pollution etc since there exists a close connection with each other.

“This court has time and again warned would-be offenders not to engage in this lucrative, yet illegal and harmful activity of piracy but they have not heeded,” he said, adding “a loud and clear message must be sent out again”.

The court noted that there were no injuries sustained by the crew of the Andromache and La Fleche and the vessels too were not damaged.

“However, the Gloria was damaged and its crew immensely suffered at the hands of the pirates who kept intimidating and threatening them while under their captivity. They ate their food and also exposed them to high risk of death with live fire and at times used them as human shields.

“The fishermen were unarmed yet placed right in front of the fire.

He said the treatment of the Seychellois fishermen by the pirates in that case was more serious and tormenting than for those who were on the vessel Faith.

The Faith had seven fishermen on board who were seized and roughed up and detained for four days before the vessel was intercepted by the Seychelles coast guard on its way to Somalia. In that case a sentence of 20 years was imposed on each pirate.

For attacking The Galate from three vessels, nine pirates got 22 years each, said the judge.

“What makes this case worse is the injuries sustained by one of the fishermen, Bernard Reginald.  It caused enormous suffering to him and his family as well as the people of this country. It became risky to go fishing. It was indeed a very nasty experience for one to place a gun on the head of an innocent fisherman then fire it,” he said.

Pirate Abudkar Ahmed had put his gun on fisherman Francois Souffe’s head and fired in the air.