Coroner slams 30-year delay in inquest for deckhand lost at sea

Three decades have passed since a young Kettering deckhand was lost at sea – but he has only just been declared deceased.

• Coroner to finally deem young fisherman dead after 30 years

A YOUNG Kettering deckhand lost at sea 30 years ago has finally been declared deceased, with a coroner slamming the fact his parents weren’t informed of the decades-long delay as a “disgrace”.

In his findings handed down on Friday, Coroner Simon Cooper said he was satisfied that Jeffrey Donald Crowden, 22, died at sea near Bird Island on March 6, 1990.

Mr Cooper said an inquest was held during 1991, but the Supreme Court of Tasmania quashed the findings the following year on the basis the coroner had no proof of Mr Crowden’s death.

He said while the presiding judge ordered another inquest be held, the Coroner’s Court failed to do so.

“Regrettably and inexcusably, the Coronial Court in 1992 failed to comply with that order of the Supreme Court. It has been impossible for me to determine why,” Mr Cooper said.

“Mr Crowden’s parents were never told that any of this had happened. That this was so is a disgrace.”

Mr Crowden’s parents, who are now in their 80s, attended the inquest held earlier this month and asked if there had been a “clerical oversight”.

“We were unaware,” Mr Crowden’s father said.

“We’re only hearing about it now, 30 years later.”

Mr Cooper said Mr Crowden and his boss, Christopher Short, had set out cray-potting on the West Coast, south of Macquarie Harbour, when their dinghy was unexpectedly overcome by waves.

Mr Short attempted to swim back to shore to retrieve their main vessel, Storm Along, but he fell unconscious after being caught in a rip.

After waking up on the rocks, Mr Short raised the alarm and tried to find his young deckhand.

While search parties retrieved the dinghy, no trace of Mr Crowden was ever discovered.

Mr Cooper, after extensive proof-of-life investigations by Tasmania Police, deemed that Mr Crowden did indeed die that day.

He noted that if the youth had been wearing a life jacket, he may have survived – however there was no way of being certain of this, and boating safety laws had since changed.

Follow @ambervwilson