52B   Culpable navigation

(1)  In this section:

drug has the same meaning as it has in section 5 (2) of the Motor Traffic Act 1909.

object includes pier, wharf, jetty, pontoon, breakwater, bridge, bridge support, mooring post or platform, navigation aid, retaining wall, marina, boatshed, slipway and swimming enclosure.

vessel means a vessel within the meaning of the Maritime Services Act 1935, propelled or towed upon water otherwise than by human or animal power.

(2)  Where the death of, or grievous bodily harm to, any person is occasioned through:

(a)  the impact with any object of a vessel in or on which that person was being conveyed (whether as a passenger or otherwise),

(b)  a vessel in or on which that person was being conveyed (whether as a passenger or otherwise) overturning or running aground,

(c)  impact with a vessel,

(d)  the impact of a vessel with any vessel or other object in, on or near which that person was at the time of the impact,

(e)  impact with anything on, or attached to, a vessel, or

(f)  impact with anything that is in motion through falling from a vessel,

      and the vessel was at the time of the impact, or at the time of overturning or running aground, or at the time the thing fell from it, being navigated by another person:

(g)  under the influence of intoxicating liquor or of a drug, or

(h)  at a speed or in a manner dangerous to the public,

      the person who was so navigating the vessel shall be guilty of the misdemeanour of culpable navigation.

(3)  A person convicted of the misdemeanour of culpable navigation is:

(a)  if the death of any person was occasioned, liable to imprisonment for 5 years, or

(b)  if grievous bodily harm to any person was occasioned, liable to imprisonment for 3 years.

(4)  It shall be a defence to any charge under this section that the death or the grievous bodily harm occasioned, as the case may be, was not in any way attributable to the fact that the person charged was under the influence of intoxicating liquor or of a drug or, as the case may be, to the speed at which or the manner in which the vessel was navigated.

(5)  This section does not take away the liability of any person to be prosecuted for or found guilty of murder, manslaughter or any other offence or affect the punishment which may be imposed therefor, but:

(a)  a person who has been convicted or acquitted of an offence under this section shall not afterwards be prosecuted for murder or manslaughter or for any other offence under this Act on the same, or substantially the same, facts, and

(b)  a person who has been convicted or acquitted of murder or manslaughter or of any other offence shall not afterwards be prosecuted for an offence under this section on the same, or substantially the same, facts.

(6)  Upon the trial of a person for murder or manslaughter or for an offence under section 54 in connection with the navigation of a vessel by him, it shall be lawful for the jury, if they are satisfied that he is guilty of an offence under this section, to find him guilty of that offence.