James Cutfield, the captain of
British tech tycoon Mike Lynch's Bayesian superyacht that sank
off Porticello near Palermo in a freak storm on 19 August, on
Tuesday pleaded no contest and declined to reply to questions
from prosecutors in nearby Termini Imerese.
It was the first time that Cutfield, a 51-year-iold expert Kiwi
sailor, had been questioned since being under investigation for
suspected multiple negligent manslaughter and causing a
shipwreck in which Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah and
five others died.
The captain is being defended by lawyers Giovanni Rizzuti and
Aldo Mordiglia, who left the conference room of the Domina hotel
where their client was interrogated.
Prosecutors in Termini Imerese officially placed Cutfield under
investigation on Monday.
Cutfield on Sunday was questioned by magistrates for two hours.
Overall, seven people died in the shipwreck, while 15 people
survived, including all crew members with the exception of the
yacht's cook Recaldo Thomas.
During Monday's two-hour-long meeting with State prosecutors,
the skipper replied to questions including whether doors and
hatches were closed and when the alarm was sounded after the
Bayesian was struck by what authorities think was a localised
and very powerful extreme-weather event called a downburst.
Under consideration were also the approximately 32 minutes
between when the 56-meter-long superyacht started taking in
water and when a red flare was launched from a life raft at 4:38
last Monday, investigative sources said.
Before working for Lynch, Cutfield is reported to have captained
luxury yachts in the Mediterranean for years and, in particular,
to have worked for an unnamed Turkish billionaire.
Cutfield and his wife Cristina reside at Majorca, where they got
married last year.
Born near Auckland, he has been sailing since he was a boy.
He has been skippering luxury yachts for about eight years now.
State attorneys on Monday meanwhile also questioned the other
crew members of the Bayesian.
ANSA has learned that they were questioned at the Domina
Zagarella resort where they are staying and that more people
could be placed under investigation in connection with the
shipwreck.
The official probe opened into the captain's potential
responsibility in the accident was a key step for prosecutors to
proceed with the autopsies on the seven victims to be carried
out by the doctors of the institute of forensic medicine of the
local Policlinico hospital, investigative sources explained.
The exams cannot be repeated so those placed under investigation
by judicial authorities will have to appoint their expert
consultants.
Other crew members who might be placed under investigation could
include the captain's deputy and the person on watch on the
night of the shipwreck, according to well-informed sources.
The issue of whether one of the yacht's hatches or entrances
were left open and whether the keel was raised, making the boat
less stable, are considered as fundamental to the investigation
into a shipwreck that has puzzled naval experts who believe a
boat like the Bayesian should have withstood the storm or at
least should not have sunk as quickly as it did.
The yacht has been described as unsinkable unless it took on
tons of water by experts like Franco Romani, who works for the
boat's high-end manufacturer, shipyard Perini Navi.
The Bayesian was one of a series of "10 ships" - "a line that
was
more than consolidated", he said, describing them as "boats that
can do anything".
Romani said he believed a large side hatch was left open
because, "if you close everything, water doesn't enter: in
extreme conditions, the boat can roll as much as it wants but it
doesn't sink".
Prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano is coordinating the
investigation into the shipwreck, which also killed Jonathan
Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International, his wife Anne
Elizabeth, Lynch's lawyer Chris Morvillo, the latter's wife
Nada,and chef Thomas.
The passengers had no time to escape because they were sleeping
in their cabins, the prosecutor said.
The 59-year-old magnate Lynch, dubbed the British Bill Gates,
had invited his friends and families on a cruise to celebrate
the
successful end of a 12-year legal battle to clear his name
linked
to the 11 billion dollar sale of his Autonomy company to
Hewlett-Packard in 2011.
HP had accused Lynch of deception.
Esme Lynch, 21, meanwhile remembered her younger sister Hannah,
saying "She is my little angel, my star".
Hannah Lynch had just won a place at Oxford University.
Those who knew her said she was a model student, a lover of
books and poetry, who after graduating from one of the UK's most
exclusive schools was preparing to go up to the prestigious
university.
"She was a supernova, determined and stubborn," said one friend.
A friend of her father called him "one of the most brilliant
minds I have ever encountered".
Lynch's wife Angela Bacares was among the 15 people rescued.
The yacht's name came from the Bayesian theory, the basis for
Lynch's PhD thesis and the software that powered his company.
The Lynch family on Friday thanked Italian authorities for their
assistance in the tragedy.
"As members of the Lynch family we are devastated, in shock and
are comforted and supported by our family and friends. "Our
thoughts at this time are with all those affected by the
tragedy.
"We sincerely thank the Italian coast guard, the emergency
services and all those who contributed to the rescue," they said
in a statement.
"We now ask that our privacy be respected at this time of untold
grief."
The Italian fire brigade divers who recovered the bodies said
"we're always called in for operations at the limit,
catastrophic. We go down 50 metres, we work in extreme
conditions and at great risk, but we aren't superheroes".
The same men worked on the Costa Concordia disaster on January
13-14 2012 in which 33 people died.
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