Bulli boat death: Sydney father charged after little son, friend die after boat capsizes
A Sydney father has been charged after his five-year-old son and mate died when their boat capsized during a fishing trip off Bulli earlier this year.
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The father of a little boy killed in a tragic boating accident north of Wollongong earlier this year has been charged, with police alleging the boat was not being operated “suitably” for the night-time conditions.
The father and son, from Sydney, were out on a boat with two other adults on Saturday, June 6 off Bulli, near Wollongong when the vessel capsized.
The boy’s father, and another man, aged 23, were pulled from the water 100 minutes later by a rescue helicopter crew and taken to Wollongong Hospital for treatment.
A desperate search for the little boy and a 28-year-old man began but was suspended shortly after before it resumed at first light.
The capsized 5.5-metre boat was towed into Port Kembla harbour on the morning on June 7, where police divers found the body of the five-year-old boy.
Police later recovered the body of the 28-year-old man, from the water near Corrimal, south of Bulli Point.
Following the tragic deaths, police launched an investigation and charged the boy’s father with two counts of operating a recreational vehicle or vessel negligently causing grievous bodily harm or death.
The man’s case was mentioned for the first time in Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday, where further details of the charges were revealed. Heis name can not be identified because of legal reasons.
According to court documents, police allege the man “failed to safely negotiate” a reef at Waniora Point at Bulli while travelling at a speed police say was “not suitable” to the conditions after sunset.
Police allege the impact with the reef was the catalyst for the capsize and the deaths of the little boy and 28-year-old man.
The man’s legal representative appeared in court on his behalf on Tuesday before it was adjourned to a later date in December. He has not yet entered pleas to the charges.