One accused cleared over Excalibur yacht deaths
by Sail-World on 1 Apr 2009
Excalibur on the hardstand SW
One of the two men accused of causing the deaths of four people who drowned when a yacht sank off the New South Wales coast in 2002 has been found not guilty.
The delivery crew members taking the racing yacht back to Melbourne after two regattas in the Whitsundays when the sloop overturned after its keel broke in two in moderate seas near Seal Rocks, north of Newcastle.
After the keel began breaking away, the crew tried to reduce the sails and head back to Port Stephens, but the keel and bulb broke off and the vessel overturned, tossing all six crew into the sea.
Two sailors survived the disaster, rescued after setting off an EPIRB and only one of the victim's bodies was found.
The former director of the company that built the boat, Alex Cittadini, and his employee, Adrian Presland, both pleaded not guilty to four counts of manslaughter.
During the trial in the NSW District Court, the prosecution argued the Excalibur's keel had been seriously weakened when it was deliberately cut while it was being built.
A jury has today acquitted Presland on all four counts but it is still deciding on a verdict for Cittadini.
The victims of the Excalibur capsize were: Peter McLeod, 51, Christopher Heyes, 51, Tracy Luke, 32, Ann Maree Pope, 30
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