A 19-year-old South Sudanese migrant who steered a heavily overloaded small boat across the English Channel has been sentenced to prison.
Chan Atak was in control of a poor-quality rigid inflatable boat carrying more than 160 people from the French coast into British waters on July 23.
The crossing set a record at the time for the largest number of migrants brought to the UK in a small boat. That figure has since been exceeded by another dinghy carrying 230 people last month.
Atak pleaded guilty to endangering lives at sea and was given an immediate sentence of two years and three months in custody.
Sentencing him at Canterbury Crown Court, Her Honour Judge Sarah Counsell said anyone taking control of a boat also accepts responsibility for the safety of everyone aboard.
She said the dangers of continuing in an overcrowded vessel that was already in poor condition, without the necessary navigation experience, should have been clear.
The court was told that Atak had applied for asylum in the UK after fleeing his home country. However, the judge said his circumstances were, sadly, not unusual among people attempting to cross the Channel to seek asylum.
Evidence presented to the court showed the boat was unfit for the journey. One of its two outboard motors worked, while sections of the inflatable tubing had begun to lose air.
Chan Atak’s rigid inflatable boat (RIB) carried 165 people from France into British waters on July 23, setting a record at the time
Drone footage captured Atak at the controls of the badly damaged and overcrowded rigid inflatable boat
Atak, believed to be 19 and from South Sudan, admitted endangering lives at sea after piloting the small boat across the English Channel
The vessel had little navigation equipment or safety gear, and most of the life jackets worn by passengers were described as inadequate.
Among the 165 people aboard were 31 children, including a 14-year-old. The crossing took approximately 24 hours to complete.
The passengers came from a range of countries across Africa, the Middle East and parts of Europe.
Judge Counsell said Channel crossings of this kind were inherently hazardous, noting that the English Channel is among the busiest shipping routes in the world.
She added that the small inflatable boats commonly used on these journeys were not built to withstand offshore sea travel.
Anyone who agrees to steer such a vessel assumes responsibility for the lives on board, the judge said, while placing passengers at serious risk when operating in dangerous conditions.
Migrants were crammed onto Atak’s dinghy as it reached the UK from France during the summer
Atak, pictured wearing a white T-shirt, arrived in Dover with more than 160 other migrants
The flimsy rigid inflatable boat Atak used for the English Channel crossing
‘Whilst the coastguard and Border Force do all they can to minimise the risk to life by seeking to intercept boats and rescue those on board, sadly their efforts are not always able to avoid injury and death.’
Drone footage appeared to show Atak operating the engine for around 90 minutes, before cutting the power and taking off his distinctive jacket as Border Force officials pulled alongside.
The prosecution said this was an attempt to mix in with other migrants and avoid detection as the pilot.
Prosecutor James Harrison said: ‘In interview, the defendant said he had paid 200 euro (£170) to a gang for the crossing but did not direct the tiller at any point during that crossing.
‘He specifically denied that he was wearing the jacket with the distinctive Italia logo.
‘When it was put to him that he had been seen to discard his jacket, he answered “No comment.”‘
He added: ‘Your Honour’s experience will tell you from cases of this type that the Channel’s tides and currents are a challenge to navigate, particularly in a vessel of this type, not manufactured perhaps to standards required to undertake such a crossing.’
Audrey Mogan, defending, said her client was at the helm but had nothing to do with the seaworthiness of the vessel, or the number of occupants.
She said: ‘Save for the fact he was piloting, there is not a single other shred of evidence to suggest that as (a 19-year-old) from South Sudan that he had anything to do with the number of people that ended up on that boat, that he had anything to do with the state of the dinghy, the fact that there were not life jackets or that those life jackets were inadequate, the lack of first aid equipment or flares.’
She said Atak, aided in court by an Arabic translator, was forcibly recruited by a militia in his homeland, but was able to flee via Libya, where he was beaten and forced into labour, and then Italy and France.
She said her client is a Christian and came to the UK ‘to seek sanctuary and safety’.
She added: ‘What we are talking about here is someone who has escaped the horrors of South Sudan.
‘Mr Atak was living in South Sudan where war has been raging for many years.
‘He was captured by a militia and effectively they raided a neighbourhood, set fire to it, he had seen people shot and their throats slashed, and he was then taken and forcibly recruited but was able to escape.’
The length of his sentence means he will be recommended for deportation from the UK.
However, lawyers may argue it is against his human rights to deport him from the country due to political instability and violence in South Sudan.
John Turner, senior investigating officer of the National Crime Agency, said: ‘Chan Atak was unimaginably reckless and his actions could have easily resulted in many deaths had this boat not been intercepted.
‘Not only did he place the lives of 165 migrants in severe peril, this flimsy vessel was entirely unsuitable for crossing one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
‘Combating the threat posed by the networks involved in organised immigration crime is one of our biggest priorities, and we currently have more than 100 investigations ongoing.’
Border security minister Anna Turley added: ‘Today’s sentencing rightly puts this evil criminal behind bars, and he joins 16 other pilots sentenced in just three months for endangering lives with flimsy, overcrowded dinghies.
‘This is a stark reminder of the ruthless acts used by smuggling gangs to exploit desperate people for profit, but today shows there is nowhere for them to hide.
‘With arrests for immigration crime surging, and the lowest number of small-boat arrivals over the summer since 2020, we are making progress. We will be relentless in bearing down on these dangerous and illegal crossings.’
The 165 migrants on Atak’s dinghy represented nearly half of the 366 people to have made the journey across the English Channel by so-called small boats that day.
More than 17,000 migrants have arrived illegally via the Channel so far this year.
