Boat captain charged with manslaughter

(CNS) UPDATED: A 36-year-old man from Prospect, who was captaining a boat that smashed into a smaller vessel in the North Sound this summer, killing two men and badly injuring a woman on board, has been charged. Sean McDonald who was behind the wheel of the Pepper Jelly, a white 32-foot Scarab centre console boat registered to Mango Jam Charters, faces two counts of manslaughter and one of assault was bailed after he appeared in court, Wednesday.

McDonald, who worked at the watersports tour company, operating at least two boats doing private charters from Camana Bay to the North Sound attractions, such as Stingray City and Starfish Point has been banned from captaining any vessels as part of a number of bail conditions and is now due to appear in Grand Court, Friday after the case was transmitted from the lower court.

MacDonald has not yet answered the charges.

John Turner (70), a UK-national living in the Cayman Islands, and Emmanuel Brown (49), a former police officer who lived in George Town, were both killed in the boat crash on Sunday, 11 August, which happened just around nightfall near to Harbour House Marina. Brown’s girlfriend survived the collision but was very badly injured.