Car dealer Lee Le Feuvre (47), of Isla Avenue, St Helier, admitted using the vessel, Emily B, in the Harbour without due care and attention and without reasonable consideration for others.
Outlining the case, police legal adviser Lauren Hallam said that Le Feuvre committed the offences at about 8 pm on 21 June as he drove the vessel well in excess of the five knots per hour limit from its mooring at the Elizabeth Marina, through the pier heads and toward pontoons to pick up four passengers, who were also drunk.
He slowed down as he approached the pontoons but had difficulty balancing the vessel. One of the passengers then fell into the sea and got trapped between the boat and the pontoon as he tried to board the boat driven by the ‘highly intoxicated’ skipper, the Magistrate’s Court heard.
Miss Hallam said that someone tried to dissuade the party from making the journey but they all boarded the vessel and set off. Witnesses reported that the party were ‘very drunk’.
Jersey Coastguard then instructed Le Feuvre to divert to La Collette Marina and he followed the order.
The Harbourmaster and a police officer were among those who went to La Collette to speak to the defendant, who surrendered the keys. The police officer could smell intoxicants from Le Feuvre and she believed he was too drunk to move the boat.
Miss Hallam told the court Le Feuvre admitted that he knew the speed limit and admitted when interviewed that he had been drinking. She said that the charge of using a boat without due care and attention related to the speeding, which was witnessed on cameras by an experienced marine officer who said that the Emily B was travelling at well in excess of the speed limit.
Miss Hallam said that the charge of using the vessel without due consideration related to the wash created by Le Feuvre’s boat and the impact that it had on other Harbour users.
Advocate Howard Sharp, defending, said that his client showed remorse and apologised for his actions, which resulted from ‘a birthday party that went wrong’
In sentencing the Magistrate Bridget Shaw said that speeding in the Harbour was comparable to speeding or careless driving on the road.
‘A contributing factor was that you were highly intoxicated,’ she said.
