All General Court Martial panelists have found the four Fiji Navy Officers guilty of their charges and the matter has been adjourned to next Friday for mitigation.
Lt Samuela Cikaitoga, Mike Brown, Lt Ben Salacakau and Lt Saula Tuilevuka have been charged in relation to the grounding of the naval ship, RFNS Kiro on Belcher Reef on 14th July, 2016.
It was read in the military court today that Lt Commander Saula Tuilevuka while being the maritime commander in January 2016 failed to submit a operational sea check that was conducted on RFNS Kiro to the Navy Headquarters.
The prosecution told the General Court Martial that there is no record of this report being submitted.
Judge Advocate, Justice Jiten Singh then asked how many times is the sea check done to which the prosecution replied every year.
It was heard in court that Lt. Cikaitoga failed to train Brown on the radar and GPS and it was also read in court that Brown had confirmed this.
While reading the summary of facts, the prosecution said that the failure to train Brown led to the grounding of RFNS Kiro on Belcher Rock.
President of the Court Martial Netani Sukainivalu asked Cikaitoga what was the condition of the radar to which Cikaitoga said it was functioning well.
When asked by Sukanaivalu on why he failed to train Brown, Cikaitoga said that Brown was onboard for just that trip as a substitute navigation officer.
Cikaitoga also said that all equipment was of satisfactory condition.
It was also heard in court that Cikaitoga as the commanding officer on RFNS Kiro was responsible with the specified duty to pay careful attention to the requirement of the regulation on safety clearance for coastal navigation.
Judge Advocate Jiten Singh then asked Cikaitoga who prepared the initial plan to which he replied that it was prepared by Brown.
President of the Court Martial, Netani Sukainivalu asked Cikaitoga when Brown had prepared the navigational course and whether he had checked it.
Cikaitoga said he did not as he overlooked it.
The court was told that Cikaitoga failed to fill his Commanding Officer’s Night Order book and by failing to do so allowed Kiro to sail without orders.
The order book would have directed the officers on watch to consult the Commanding Officer everytime the ship changed course.
According to the summary of facts, with the absence of orders, Brown plotted three different courses at different times in the journey without consulting the Commanding Officer.
The summary of fact states that the fix plotted by Mike Brown directly led to the grounding of Kiro.
