By Edwin Fidelis – EM TV News, Kokopo
Survivors of the Rabaul Queen disaster were yesterday called into the national courtroom in Kokopo to give their accounts of the ordeal.
All of them tragically lost relatives in the 2012 disaster.
Present in the courtroom were Peter Sharp, his Rabaul Queen’s Captain Anthony Tsiau, their lawyers, and state prosecutors.
The case was presided over by Justice Terrence Higgins.
A total of six witnesses were called in to the courtroom yesterday to testify regarding the 2012 ferry disaster.
Sharp’s lawyers will be answering 172 individual manslaughter charges.
The case has dragged into its fouth day, with more witnesses to be called into the courtroom to testify.
Debate in court focuses on the availability of life jackets on the ship, and the padlocks that were latched to the cupboard that contained life vests for the passengers.
The case was further adjourned this afternoon, to resume at 9:30am next Monday morning.
It’s a case that’still hasn’t brought peace to many survivors, and those who lost family members during the ferry disaster.
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