A magistrate has thrown out a case of negligence against a pilot of ferry which crashed at Dockyard with 46 people on board.

Paul Trew, 32, was the pilot of the Serenity when it collided with the berthing dock on September 15, 2007, causing passengers to be thrown from their seats. As a result of the incident, 14 people were treated at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

Yesterday however, Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo ruled there was no case to answer. He said the Crown had not proved that Mr. Trew was negligent as the ferry had experienced mechanical problems prior to the accident.

The charges against him were dropped that whilst piloting the Serenity Mr. Trew "through ignorance or negligence caused the said boat to run aground" and that "through ignorance or negligence did an act which tended to endanger the life or limb of persons aboard".

The collision happened as the ferry attempted to dock at the public terminal at Dockyard at 12.40 p.m. on Saturday, September 15.

Magistrates' Court heard the Serenity had suffered mechanical problems with its gear transmission in previous weeks. Mr. Tokunbo said it could not be certain whether the problem had been fully corrected by the time of the accident.

He said the boat could also not be said to have "run aground" as stated in the charge against Mr. Trew, as it had collided with a berthing dock rather than the seabed.

"There is no evidence the boat ran aground, which means to run into the seabed," said Mr. Tokunbo.

"I find the negligent element of the defendant is not made out, so there is no case to answer."

The magistrate said Mr. Trew, of Sandys, had claimed he was unable to get the engines to reverse thrust that there were "problems disengaging the gear lever".

"There was a problem with the port side engine prior to September 15," added Mr. Tokunbo.

This had required a replacement part.

The magistrate said: "It seems to be critical that the prosecution establishes the boat was free of mechanical defect in order to establish pilot error of negligence. In my view that has not been done.

"Further there is no evidence the defendant acted through negligence."