Two German men, the captain and chief engineer of a ship, Verlaine, yesterday were cleared of causing the death of a Dutchman through negligence after the court ruled that the prosecution had not managed to prove its case.

Peter Bargmann, 63, and Herman Raake, 57, the captain and chief engineer respectively, were charged with causing the death of Raymond Van Beck through carelessness and imprudence.

Mr Van Beck was crushed to his death when the bow thrusters of the Verlaine were turned on while he was inspecting them at around 10am on 11 July 2004.

Handing down her judgement, Magistrate Audrey Demicoli ruled that the prosecution had not managed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and therefore cleared the men of the charges brought against them.

The magistrate also noted that when the incident took place, the chief engineer was in the engine room performing routine checks while the captain was on the diver’s boat and did not have control over the vessel.

The court heard how Mr Van Beck, who was a self-employed diver, was contracted to carry out inspections on the ship’s hull.

The diver boarded the ship and had a meeting with the captain during which safety procedures during the inspections were discussed.

Following the meeting, the diver and the ship’s captain left the ship and boarded Mr Van Beck’s boat and the dive commenced.

According to the magisterial inquiry, to which reference is made in the judgement, Mr Van Beck died after he was sucked in by the ship’s bow thrusters which had no grid covering it and which had been switched on.

The captain told the court that the bow thrusters of the Verlaine could not be turned on accidentally since one has to carry out four steps in order to start the bow thrusters.

In her judgement, Magistrate Demicoli said that from the evidence brought forward by both the prosecution and the defence, it resulted beyond reasonable doubt that the bow thrusters in question could not be switched on with only one generator operating.

Moreover, she said, the safety cross sheet which is a document which needs to be filled in every time the vessels sets into port clearly indicates that the bow thrusters were switched off when the vessel was moored.

“The prosecution managed to prove that the bow thruster was in neutral mode at the time of the incident but failed to prove who actually turned on the bow thrusters.

“The prosecution tried to explain what happened by saying that the bow thrusters were not turned off in the first place.

“It is not the prosecution’s role to put forward hypotheses as to what might have happened, but instead, it must prove beyond reasonable doubt that there was negligence, carelessness and non-observance of regulations which brought about the tragic death of Mr Van Beck,” the magistrate said.

She therefore cleared both men of the charges brought against them.

Inspectors Johan Fenech and Noel Cutajar prosecuted while Dr Stefano Filletti appeared for the accused.