Convicted of false explanation – NRK Vestfold and Telemark – Local news, TV and radio

There were four men in the boat. They had been together all day and, among other things, partied at a nightclub in Stavern.

Heavy collision

Shortly after they left the harbor in a leisure boat, it collided with Tisleøya outside Stavern.

The 29-year-old told the rescue crews that there were five people on board the boat, and that the boatman was gone.

As a result, a large-scale search operation was launched because the rescue teams were only able to find four people.

The 29-year-old was also found guilty of letting a drunk 52-year-old drive the boat.

The 52-year-old has now been sentenced to a 14-day suspended prison sentence.

The sentence is in line with what the prosecution proposed as punishment.

During the trial in Vestfold district court, both men said that they did not remember anything from the accident.

Denies having driven the boat

However, the youngest chose to plead guilty after seeing the evidence. He was the one in charge of the boat that belonged to his father.

The 52-year-old believes he cannot have driven the boat because he is visually impaired.

He claimed in court that he neither drives nor cycles because of his eyesight.

The court does not believe the 52-year-old’s explanation that he had not driven the boat.

The court emphasized that the man was stuck in the footwell in the driver’s seat when the rescue crews found him.

All were injured

The 52-year-old suffered serious injuries and was transported to a hospital in Oslo by rescue helicopter.

Two others were helped at the emergency room in Larvik, while a third man was taken to the hospital in Vestfold.

It was the 29-year-old man who alerted the emergency services. Already in the telephone conversation with the police, he said that there had been five people on board.

The court believes that the motive for the false explanation was an attempt to get away from possible criminal responsibility related to the drunk driving.

Expensive and life-threatening

– Generally speaking, it is serious that the rescue service and the emergency services have to use resources on faulty search operations. Exploration actions also have a not insignificant financial cost, the judgment states.

The court also believes that the 52-year-old put other people’s lives at risk by driving the boat while drunk.

– Drunk driving with a small boat in the middle of the night can have fatal consequences. The collision with Tisleøya led to serious injuries to two of the people in the boat, the court writes in the judgment and points out that the 52-year-old was himself injured.

The men have both been sentenced to pay NOK 6,000 each in court costs.

NRK has been in contact with the lawyers of the two men. None of them have decided whether to accept the verdict or appeal it.