A teenage pleaded not guilty to a people smuggling charge after four migrants died when their boat sank in the Channel last week.
Ibrahima Bah, 19, of no fixed address, was charged with knowingly facilitating the attempted arrival in the UK of people he knew or had reasonable cause to believe were asylum seekers.
He was accused of piloting a boat, carrying between 43 and 48 migrants, across the Channel – none of whom had visas to enter the UK, including himself, at Folkestone Magistrates Court, Kent on Monday, December, 19.
Fishermen, who spotted a deflated dinghy and people swimming in the icy water, tried to to help survivors board their trawler.
Ibrahima Bah, 19, of no fixed address, was charged with knowingly facilitating the attempted arrival in the UK of people he knew or had reasonable cause to believe were asylum seekers
Bah, who speaks the Senegalese language Wolof and has limited English, spoke through an interpreter to plead not guilty to the offence.
District Judge Nicola Fleck sent the case to Canterbury Crown Court for a plea and trial preparation hearing on January 16, 2023. Bah was remanded in custody.
An international rescue operation was launched after the crew of a UK fishing boat reported hearing cries for help coming from the Channel at 2.16am on Wednesday, December, 14.
The two fishing vessels were joined by an HM Coastguard Search and Rescue helicopter, two RNLI lifeboats from Ramsgate, Kent and Rye, East Sussex, the Royal Navy patrol boat HMS Severn, and the French coastguard patrol boat Kermorvan.
A Government spokesperson confirmed four people died in the tragic incident. 39 others were taken safely to shore.
Two asylum seekers were airlifted to hospital after battling freezing conditions in the water.
It is thought the group of migrants had set off from Ambleteuse beach south of Calais.
Speaking in the House of Commons Home Secretary Suella Braverman said last week: ‘These are the days that we dread.’
Founder of refugee charity Care4Calais, Clare Moseley, said: ‘There are no words to express our horror and grief at today’s tragedy.
‘A full year on from 32 people losing their lives in the Channel, our Government has done nothing to prevent further deaths and so has failed both the refugees who need our help and our country.
‘Three weeks ago we stood in solidarity with the relatives of those 32 souls and felt their undiminished grief.
‘It is unbearable to think that more families will now suffer the same pain.
‘Both then and now, these deaths are wholly unnecessary and preventable. By failing to act, our government has blood on their hands.
‘The people we work with in Calais have not only suffered the very worst horrors in this world – conflicts, human rights abuses and torture – they have been brave and resilient enough to escape and survive incredible journeys to come here and ask for our help. And yet we deny them.
‘Recently released Government statistics show asylum acceptance rates of 82-98% for the people we work with.
‘It is beyond doubt that they are ‘genuine’ refugees and their method of travel is entirely irrelevant to this.
‘We know it’s possible to give people safe passage – we do it for Ukrainian refugees.
‘If other refugees were given safe passage across the Channel, people smugglers would be put out of business and refugees would be safe.
‘There is no reason why any refugee should die trying to claim asylum in the UK and it is utterly shameful that our government refuses to act to make refugees safe now.’
The number of migrants known to have crossed the Channel in small boats so far this year now stands at 45,462 in 1,071 boats, compared to 28,526 in the whole of 2021, according to official government figures.
DailyMail
