A trawler skipper accused of human trafficking Ghanaian fishermen took them home for Christmas lunch, Stornoway Sheriff Court has heard.
Alexander Murray, the owner of the MFV Astra III, denies he arranged to take three Ghanaian nationals into the UK for exploitation.
Murray is also charged with allegedly arranging travel for two of them at Stornoway and at sea with intent to exploit them.
Giving evidence through an interpreter at Stornoway Sheriff Court, fisherman Issac Adokah said he and other crew members spent Christmas Day with the skipper in his home at 12 Upper Bayble in Lewis.
Fishing skipper denies human trafficking charges
14 October 2015
Advocate Barney Ross who is representing Murray, showed the jury photographs of the group around a Christmas tree as well as wearing festive paper hats during their meal in Mr Murray’s house.
Mr Adokah said: “I was very happy that day.”
He said Murray was a "good friend" agreed they got on well together.
Earlier, Mr Adokah agreed with procurator fiscal Alison Wylie he had a 15 month contract with the option to do just a year by mutual consent.
He expected to be paid £800 plus a £50 bonus monthly.
But his pay stopped about three months after he joined the Stornoway prawn trawler, he said.
He said wages between 20 February and leaving the vessel in March 2013 are still owed.
The defence lawyer said the fisherman eventually received more money than his contracted wages.
Mr Adokah agreed that he received cash from the proceeds from fish sold as bait to local crab fishermen.
Barney Ross said: “Rather than keep the money for himself, Mr Murray shared it with the crew” which he didn’t have to.
The witness agreed but believed it was half of the £1,400 figure the lawyer suggested.
Mr Ross said: “Even if it is £700, the total money you received with Mr Murray is more than you were contractually entitled to."
“If I added it to my wages, yes, its more than that,“ agreed Mr Adokah.
The “catastrophic” breakdown of the main engine in November 2013 created financial
problems for the owner-
Mr Adokah agreed it was a “disaster” for them all.
Murray was faced with a £40,000 bill for a replacement engine on top of all the engineering expenses.
The lawyer said the skipper didn’t have the money and the boat would not be earning while undergoing repairs which took two months.
The captain suggested Adokah could go home to Ghana or find another boat.
“I did not heard anything like that,” responded the witness.
If he stayed, “he told you when the boat is fixed you will get paid,” said Mr Ross.
The skipper said “he is expecting some money to come in. When the money arrives I would get paid,” replied Mr Adokah.
Mr Ross said: “The position is always clear the problem was the delay to your wages.
“It is quite obvious” the unexpected engine breakdown was the reason Mr Murray stopped paying his wages, he added.
“That is the case,” replied the fisherman.
The skipper also gave him some money towards the arrears, he said.
Earlier, the fisherman told the court he lived onboard the “dirty boat” all the time.
They had to use a bucket as the toilet and there was no shower. To wash himself he found a private spot onboard and poured hot water from a bucket over his head.
The “bed was filthy,” and the place they slept was “full of tools,” he said.
The fisherman agreed with advocate Barney Ross that he had worked hard and done well over his working life, being able to send his children to private school in Ghana.
Mr Adokah -
Scotland was “very, very good to me” he said.
In case it would be “seriously suggested” there was “some sort of illegal people
trafficking,” Mr Ross went through all the “legal hurdles” -
Mr Murray had paid for his flight to Scotland and overnight accommodation in Peterhead.
With Mr Murray’s wife and daughter, they headed for Ullapool to catch the ferry to Stornoway, agreed the fisherman.
Mr Ross showed the witness photographs of food supplies in the galley, including a freezer “stuffed from top to bottom with fresh meat.”
“Nobody is in danger of going hungry on board the Astra III,” he added and there was a “plentiful supply of good and nutritious food."
Mr Adokah replied: “We always had good food onboard. He looked after us.”
The four crew members slept in one large cabin while the skipper had another room.
“The place was filthy, due to two untidy Filipino crew members, said Mr Adokah.
The Filipinos “were the one making the place look a bit filthy,” he added.
He said he never told Mr Murray as they “were living there and so should have taken responsibility.”
The solicitor said there may be later evidence from a maritime official to the “effect he would not expected a flushing toilet but would expect there to be a bucket so people on board could use the toilet” on Western Isles fishing vessels.
Mr Adokah agreed.
The advocate said most island trawlers would not have a shower facility -
The witness said: “When I came here, that’s when I found out.”
He agreed with Mr Ross there were shower and laundry facilities available in Stornoway and other west coast ports they visited and Mr Murray paid for their use.
Murray -
The trial before Sheriff Mungo Bovey QC continues.