Lance Goodhew on day one of his trial against Martime NZ at the Whangārei District Court. Photo / Michael Craig
Lance Goodhew on day one of his trial against Martime NZ at the Whangārei District Court. Photo / Michael Craig
The three-week trial for Enchanter skipper Lance Goodhew started in the Whangārei District Court on Monday. Survivors gave their evidence 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 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 at North Cape, killing Geoffrey James Allen, 72, Michael Patrick Lovett, 72, Richard Eldon Bright, 63, Mark Keith Walker, 41 and Mark Kenneth Sanders, 43.
Multiple survivors have recalled the trauma of watching friends drifting off into darkness, clinging to debris, nursing wounds and confronting the reality that companions were dead after a monstrous wave destroyed their fishing boat, the Enchanter.
“All three guys in the water were pretty expressionless, they wouldn’t swimto the boat, they wouldn’t do anything,” one survivor said on day two of the trial, which started this week.
The charter fishing boat’s skipper, Lance Goodhew, is facing one charge in the Whangārei District Court of allegedly breaching his duties as a skipper, which resulted in the death of five men.
Today, survivors of the 2022 tragedy filed through to give evidence in the case being heard before Judge Philip Rzepecky.
The men spent three days fishing at the Three Kings Islands before deciding to head south to North Cape, where they would anchor on March 20.
A significant front of bad weather had just passed, leaving behind a wake of sea patterns Maritime New Zealand believe were too dangerous for Goodhew to be travelling in.
‘That’s a big swell’
Peter Shay Ward said he was invited on the trip by Mark Walker and slept most of the way from Princes Island to North Cape, only coming on deck about 10 minutes before the wave hit.
Ward said the wave got bigger as it got closer and he hung onto the boat as it scaled the height of the wave and flipped.
”I remember looking up at the wave and thought, ‘F*** that’s a big swell.’
“It was steep, short, sharp and swell,” Ward said. “I hit the water and rolled and rolled and rolled and expected the boat to land on top of me, but it didn’t.”
Ward said he got hooked around the boat railing and received multiple fractures and holes in his body from fishing rod holders.
As he scrambled to reach the surface, he eventually popped up amidst debris and oil.
Ward then hung onto the duckboard with Mike Lovett. He said they were both trying to climb on top but the next time he saw Lovett, he was face down in the water.
Mike Lovett of Cambridge was hanging to a piece of debris with Shay Ward before he died.
He finally managed to climb aboard the debris and saw the reality of the situation.
Three men were not responsive.
‘The hull was upside down’
Survivor Jayde Cook gave evidence that Walker also invited him on the trip with other men who were a combination of friends and friends of friends.
Cook said it was his first time to the Three Kings and was “the opportunity of a lifetime, to catch the fish of a lifetime with a good bunch of people”.
Cook had his back to the wave when it hit and said it was like a grenade going off before he resurfaced into the chaotic scene.
“The hull was upside down, propellers were spinning, and there was smoke in the air.”
Cook managed to climb on to the hull with Peter Shay Ward, who had a laceration on his leg, and tried to stop the blood flow by tying a belt around it.
Cook was emotional as he recalled the frightening moment of watching other survivors being swept away into darkness hours before spotting helicopters flying overhead.
“The helicopters went past us and I could see them hovering over the others and then they headed back the way they came and then it was about another hour before they came back,” Cook said.
Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust captured the dramatic rescue of survivors of the Enchanter.
‘I spy with my little eye’
Earlier in the day, deckhand Kobe O’Neill finished his evidence under cross-examination by Fletcher Pilditch KC. He confirmed the vessel was about 15 minutes away from anchoring under the lighthouse at Murimotu Island off North Cape when the wave hit.
O’Neill said the conditions were around 15 knots of wind per hour and 1.5-metre swells with no indication of large waves approaching.
“I’ve never seen a wave like that, ever in my life,” O’Neill said.
“It hit very suddenly?” Pilditch asked.
“Like a freight train,” O’Neill responded.
O’Neill recounted to pass the time, the survivors engaged in a game of “I Spy.” When he spotted helicopters approaching, he remarked, “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with H.”
From the darkness, Ben Stinson responded, “You better not be f****** joking.”
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.
