Dinghy-of-death suspect cleared

A MAN accused of battering six people with a wooden plank and then throwing them overboard from the so-called ‘dinghy of death’, has been cleared.

The Cameroonian became the sole suspect accused of the deaths of the migrants when a second man under investigation died in jail some months ago.

The Public Prosecutor’s office had been demanding a 90-year jail sentence for manslaughter with religious differences an aggravating circumstance.

The defendant, known as A.M.B, was accused by one of those on the dinghy of tearing up wooden boards from the deck and using them to beat a pastor and five other people who were praying before pushing them overboard.

It was said he believed their prayers had caused the storm that was pummelling the dinghy.

No bodies were ever found and there was no photographic evidence or police reports to prove any boards from the deck were missing from the dinghy, which set sail from Africa.

The vessel hit bad weather which led to the deaths of between 15 and 30 people, including seven children, before its occupants were pulled from the Alboran Sea in December 2014.