Four Nigerian stowaways who departed Lagos via a UK-bound ship have been jailed after being found guilty of fighting with the sailors.
The Nigerians, all aged between
21 and 28, were found to have also hurled
faeces at the sailors and vowing to infect them with HIV during the
stand-off in December, 2018.
According to Mail Online, two of
them were also found guilty of threatening to kill crew members and arming
themselves with metal poles.
Samuel Jolumi, 27, Ishola Sunday,
28, Toheeb Popoola, 27, and Joberto McGee, 21 were all found guilty after a
two-months trial in the Old Bailey while Popoola and McGee were guilty of
making threats to kill.
Popoola was jailed for 31 months,
while McGee was sentenced to 32 months; Sunday and Popoola were each jailed for
16 months.
“At least one member of the group
made ‘throat-slitting’ gestures at the 27-strong crew and McGee mouthed the
words: ‘I kill you’,” Mail Online reported, adding: “Faeces was also smeared
across the windows of the cabin that the crew had barricaded themselves into.”
Two of the stowaways were caught
by sailors on the upper deck, while the other two were found hanging over the
railings near the ship’s propellers.
Popoola and McGee were reported
to have previously been sent back to Nigeria after stowing away on separate
ships, while Popoola is said to have also stowed himself away three times
previously.
McGee reportedly told Essex
police that the ship’s crew had treated them “like dogs” because “the food was
awful”.
The captain told the court he
feared the group could have been “terrorists or Boko Haram” and may have had
weapons stashed on the ship.
A statement from UK authorities
quoted the four Nigerians as saying they wanted to apply for asylum for “a
better life.”
Tony Badenoch, the prosecutor,
told the court: “These four defendants left Nigeria and wanted to reach this
country. In order to reinforce these demands the defendants also armed
themselves with metal poles, threw urine and faeces, and in at least one of the
defendant’s cases, they cut themselves.
“The crew believed that the reason
for that cut was a form of threat, that they would pass on a disease which they
carried to the crew unless their demands were met.
“Those events were, as you would
expect, reported to the authorities here in the United Kingdom, and the Grande
Tema was held off-shore in UK waters whilst the situation on board was resolved
and the crew were no longer at risk and in danger.”
Below are pictures of the
suspects:
 |
| Popola |
 |
| McGee |
 |
| Sunday |
 |
| Jolumi |
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