Teenage asylum seeker jailed for piloting 'mega dinghy' carrying HUNDREDS of illegal migrants across Channel
A South Sudanese national has been jailed for piloting a small boat carrying hundreds of illegal migrants across the Channel.
Chan Atak, 19, was jailed at Canterbury Crown Court for two years and three months after piloting the boat across the English Channel.
The vessel carried 165 people.
The teenage asylum seeker piloted the overcrowded, deflating 14-metre-long dinghy across the waterway.
This was a record-high number of passengers on a boat for a Channel crossing when the craft made the journey carrying men, women and 31 children, the youngest aged 14, on July 23.
The dinghy had two outboard engines, but one wasn't working.
Tubing on the boat had started to deflate, the court heard.
Aerial footage shows one person “constantly pumping” to try to re-inflate the rigid-hulled inflatable boat.
Atak was also picked up on aerial footage operating the boat for 90 minutes, wearing a black jacket with an "Italia" logo.
But then Atak crouched down among other passengers and took off his jacket "to avoid detection as the helmsman", prosecutor James Harrison said.
Sentencing him, Judge Sarah Counsell said Atak played an "important role" in controlling and navigating the vessel, and it was not "fleeting or incidental involvement"
She said: "Crossings of this nature are inherently dangerous. Small inflatable vessels of the type commonly used for these crossings are not designed for offshore sea voyages. Those who choose to steer such vessels assume responsibility for the safety of those on board."
The judge also noted that, as well as engine issues, the vessel did not have navigation, emergency signalling equipment or firefighting equipment, while fuel containers and batteries were "stored together, creating a risk of fire".
But she added there was no evidence he organised the crossing or that he stood to make money from it.
The court heard Atak had told police officers he paid 200 euros to a gang for the crossing.
Atak pleaded guilty to the single offence in August at the same court.
The teenager, aided by an Arabic interpreter, wore a t-shirt and a large white rosary around his neck at the hearing on Friday.
Defending him, barrister Audrey Mogan urged the court to take into account his young age, having turned 19 the month before the crossing took place.
Ms Mogan described Atak has someone who has “escaped the horrors of South Sudan”, where he saw militia set fire to a neighbourhood, people shot and their throats slashed.
He escaped from there to Libya, where the situation for young asylum seekers are “dire”, she said, and he was beaten and particularly focused on because of his Christianity.
She said: "It’s from there he escaped to Italy and then to France."
She told the judge: “He wants me to tell this to your honour, he came here to seek sanctuary and safety, that is of course what asylum seekers are doing, to build a new life and to leave the dire circumstances where they come from, seek protection.”
The court heard the sentence for Atak meant as a foreign national he was liable in principle to automatic deportation back to his country.
It was the second day running that criminal gangs launched a larger migrant boat, as they cramed ever greater numbers on board and try to avoid police patrols further north along the French coast.
The French lifeboat service was alerted just before 6.30am on the day as the dinghy headed out to sea.
In a statement released at the time, a spokesman for the service said: "The situation is alarming, unique, and exceptional. Around 150 people are on board, and one of the floats is leaking. Despite this, the vessel continues on its way.
"The vessel is already well out to sea. We are astonished by the number of people on board this inflatable boat. The crew is constantly trying to inflate the side float, while taking in significant amounts of water."
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