Lance Goodhew on day one of his trial on a charge brought by Maritime New Zealand at the Whangārei District Court. Photo / Michael Craig
Lance Goodhew on day one of his trial on a charge brought by Maritime New Zealand at the Whangārei District Court. Photo / Michael Craig
The three-week trial for Enchanter skipper Lance Goodhew started in the Whangārei District Court today.
Goodhew faces a single charge of breaching his duties as a worker on the vessel and in doing so, allegedly exposing individuals to a risk of death or serious injury.
Two charges against his recreational fishing charter business were dropped today as there was no evidence.
The Enchanter was hired by a group of friends for a game-fishing trip to the Three Kings Islands in March 2022.
The fishing boat capsized during bad weather, killing Geoffrey James Allen, 72, Michael Patrick Lovett, 72, Richard Eldon Bright, 63, Mark Keith Walker, 41 and Mark Kenneth Sanders, 43.
The deckhand on board a vessel that sank killing five men has given a first-hand account of the chaos that ensued when the Enchanter was engulfed by a monstrous wave.
“It was instant, half a second,” Kobe O’Neill said about the moment the wave hit and flipped theboat, before going on to explain he had just two minutes to try to escape as water poured in through broken windows.
O’Neill was the first person to give evidence at the start of a three-week trial against his boss, skipper Lance Goodhew, in the Whangārei District Court today.
Goodhew is facing a single Maritime New Zealand charge of breaching his duties as a worker on the vessel and, in doing so, exposing individuals to a risk of death or serious injury. The charge carries a maximum penalty of a $150,000 fine.
Judge Philip Rzepecky started the judge-alone trial earlier in the day by acknowledging all those who died, and the survivors and their families who had travelled to participate in the trial or listen in remotely.
“This is a serious maritime tragedy and the other people who survived who, no doubt, went through a traumatic ordeal, including Mr Goodhew, so I acknowledge them and I also acknowledge and welcome the families and victims.”
The court heard O’Neill had worked as a deckhand for Goodhew for four seasons and was in training to become a skipper.
O’Neill said on Saturday, March 19 the vessel was anchored at Little Bear Bay in the Three Kings and they were aware the weather would be rough in the morning and ease off in the afternoon.
The group decided to fish the bay in the morning and then head to Princes Island to hook kingfish.
Video footage was played of the men fishing at Princes Island, which showed the swell of the sea.
Family members of Mark Sanders, one of the men who died, became openly tearful as they watched the video of one of his last joyous moments.
Further footage was played of the journey back and when asked to describe his thoughts of the sea state, O’Neill responded: “One and a half to two metres.”
He clarified that the height of the waves was difficult to measure as the sea was always changing.
They took their normal route towards North Cape and O’Neill said they would usually anchor there on the final night before the six-hour trip to Mangonui.
He said when the wave hit, it came portside and the vessel rolled instantly.
O’Neill said after the windows blew out, they had two minutes to get out as water poured in.
He struggled to get on the upside-down hull but as he did he noticed Mike Lovett floating face-down in the water. He dove in and held Lovett for two hours, trying his hardest to save him.
An emergency beacon floated past, but he said it took 15 minutes to activate the device as it wouldn’t turn on. They then waited in the water for four hours for help to arrive.
Maritime New Zealand’s lead counsel Sam McMullan opened his case by saying Goodhew breached his duties under the Health and Safety Act 2015 and in doing so, exposed passengers to the risk of death or injury.
“The Enchanter should never have been where it was. The weather was poor and a significant front was passing, the conditions were described as ‘sloppy, gnarly and scruffy’,” McMullan said.
The lawyer said the weather was a key topic of discussion throughout the trip and Goodhew himself had interpreted the weather as “nasty”.
Judge Philip Rzepecky is conducting the judge-alone trial regarding the Enchanter tragedy. Photo / Michael Craig
McMullan said when the Enchanter left Mangonui on March 17, 2022 there was no dispute Goodhew knew a weather front was coming with estimated 30-knot winds forecast for March 19.
Despite that knowledge and armed with multiple weather navigational devices, Goodhew took his passengers 80km north and, over the coming days, the weather forecast was upgraded to a gale warning.
McMullan said Goodhew discussed the weather regularly with his passengers and was also receiving six-hourly updates from his onboard weather systems.
The case will hinge on the decisions Goodhew made at the Three Kings Islands and North Cape that allegedly contributed to the catastrophic outcome.
The weather passing over the Three Kings had reportedly been so bad that multiple vessels in the area had set anchor. But about 1.30pm on March 19, Goodhew decided to leave.
Sam McMullan, acting for Maritime New Zealand, opened the case. Photo / Michael Craig
McMullan said although the weather had slightly improved, the sea was still rough and most seafarers understand the risks presented after a front has passed.
“The fact the Enchanter arrived in North Cape a short time after the front had passed through should have given him pause for concern that the area may still be encountering the effects of weather that had passed through,” McMullan said in opening.
When Goodhew was interviewed by Maritime New Zealand he described the conditions as dark, with visibility between 20 to 50 metres in front of him, and said he was going side-on into waves.
Although Goodhew said the Enchanter was in about 50m of water, MetOcean disagreed and would give evidence the water depth was likely less than that, the lawyer said.
McMullan said Goodhew was also within three nautical miles of the coastline and it was those combined factors at North Cape that placed Goodhew’s passengers at a reasonable risk of injury or death.
“It’s all of those factors together, he was travelling in the conditions he was, the proximity he was to North Cape in low light, all increased the risk of the situation.
“The marine environment is a complex one and it takes time to go into effect. Based on the information he had and not exercising a degree of care in his decisions, as we see the consequences have been catastrophic.
“He breached the act. It is his duty to positively take reasonable care. That is an encapsulation of what the case is about,” McMullan said.
‘Catastrophic’ consequences
Between 7.40pm and 8pm a wave described by Goodhew as “taller than the roof” struck the Enchanter, ripping the cabin and flybridge from the hull.
Fletcher Pilditch KC, appearing for Lance Goodhew, gave a brief statement for his client on day one of the trial. Photo / Michael Craig
Goodhew’s lawyer Fletcher Pilditch KC said his client firstly wanted to acknowledge the deceased and also the survivors and the trauma they have lived through together.
Pilditch said the prosecution needed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that no responsible skipper would have left the Three Kings.
“There’s a risk in cases like this where one mariner would have made one decision and another would have made another.
“What the prosecution is trying to do is, based on the information, [say] no reasonable mariner would have made that decision. We have the fact two people would make two different decisions, doesn’t make it unreasonable.”
‘Complex and challenging’ decisions
Pilditch said the decisions at North Cape were more complex and he challenged the prosecution’s theory that being within three nautical miles of the coast placed more risk on the vessel.
“The prosecution are setting [their] mark or raising a flag that there is a distinction to be drawn on the three nautical miles outside and within, but they need to show why it’s unsafe or risky to be closer than three [for a skipper] generally known to be a confident master,” Pilditch said.
Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tōkerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.
