The American surveillance plane’s infrared video of the fiberglass boat passing through Virgin Islands waters is grainy, but the story it tells is clear.

At first, the Jesus LA, a 25-foot motorboat with no cabin to shelter its estimated 35 passengers and crew, is seen proceeding at what appears to be an unhurried pace. Then, in a disastrous attempt to evade a pursuing United States Coast Guard cutter, the captain, Roro Edourre, accelerated.

“Look at that wake. It’s really moving,” Nigel Niven, a detective inspector with the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force’s major crime team, said recently while showing the video of the Dec. 6, 2010 incident.

In the video, the boat is seen hitting a rock and overturning, with tragic consequences. The crash killed at least eight Haitians who had boarded the craft in St. Maarten hours earlier in the hopes of reaching the US.

Dozens of people spilled into the water, requiring an immediate reaction from VI law enforcement, first responders and social services agencies. Despite the subsequent deaths, the response stands out as a model of inter-agency cooperation, Mr. Niven said.

“The death tally was less because everyone responded so quickly,” he explained.

That morning, RVIPF and customs officers as well as volunteers from VI Search and Rescue combed the water for survivors and the bodies of the dead, some of whom were children.

Investigation

Once the immediate response had ended, the investigation began. Police, following guidelines set by the United Nations, drew a distinction between the organisers of the trip, who would be prosecuted, and passengers, who were considered economic migrants, Mr. Niven said.

“They’re victims,” he said of the passengers. “And our starting position is that we treat victims with dignity and respect.”

A few police officers who speak Haitian Creole translated for detectives during interviews with survivors. A picture began to emerge of the extent of the smuggling operation.

“In the first instance, it’s incredibly confused,” Mr. Niven said. “Eventually it became clear.”

He added that VI authorities’ decision to assist St. Maarten and USVI officials with their investigations into the incident eventually resulted in bringing to justice other smugglers involved in the operation. VI police first assigned the case the code name of  “Pelican” but later changed it to “Cerberus,” after the three-headed dog of Greek mythology, in order to signify the cooperation between the three jurisdictions, Mr. Niven said.

Witnesses

In the weeks after the tragedy, as the Christmas holiday approached, community groups came forward with donations to assist the crash victims.

Most of the survivors were repatriated to Haiti on Dec. 22, a date picked to ensure that they got home for Christmas, officials said at the time.

The dead were buried at the Cappoons Bay Cemetery after a Christmas Eve memorial service held at the Zion Hill Methodist Church.

To carry out the prosecutions of Mr. Edourre and his crewmember Renold Plaisimond, who were both convicted of manslaughter during a 2012 trial, officials chose to place four of the crash survivors into the police’s witness protection programme.

They were resettled into the community, and with the assistance of the Labour Department were given special work permits, Mr. Niven said. They have since been resettled outside of the territory, he added.

Debriefing

Within weeks of the incident, David Morris, then the RVIPF’s deputy commissioner, led a meeting of VI agencies in a “debriefing” about the territory’s response to the crash.

He also led a meeting attended by police and prosecutors from the VI, the USVI and St. Maarten, as a way of coordinating the three countries’ efforts, Mr. Niven said. Attendees agreed to share witnesses, physical evidence and autopsy reports, he added.

Following the conviction of Messrs. Plaisimond and Edourre, St. Maarten officials later arrested and convicted four St. Maarten residents — Erold Bolan, Jean Cobite, Louis Saint Marc and Pierre Neus — on charges that they helped transport the passengers, according to the country’s Daily Herald.

They each received several years in prison, the newspaper reported.

Two other men — Dieseul Mompremier and Lamorthe Delva — pleaded guilty in a St. Thomas court in June to charges that they conspired to illegally smuggle aliens into the US for financial gain.

Prosecutors alleged that the pair were waiting in St. Thomas for the Jesus LA’s arrival and spoke to Mr. Eddoure via phone during the voyage. Both men were given 57-month prison sentences.

Reflecting on the other jurisdictions’ verdicts, Mr. Niven said he thinks the inter-agency cooperation worked well.

“We’re pleased to see that,” he said. “We believe it had a deterrent effect.”

This article originally appeared in the Nov. 6, 2013 print edition.

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