An asylum seeker who piloted a boat in the English Channel where four passengers drowned has not been successful in a bid to bring a challenge against his convictions and sentence.
Ibrahima Bah was convicted of manslaughter and of facilitating a breach of UK immigration law and sentenced to nine and a half years’ detention in February, after steering the dinghy in an attempted crossing in December 2022.
During a retrial at Canterbury Crown Court, Bah said smugglers threatened to kill him if he did not drive the boat, but the prosecution said he was not telling the truth.
At the Court of Appeal earlier, Bah did not get the green light to bring his challenge.
Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr said Bah could not bring the appeal, ruling it was not “arguable”.
Richard Thomas KC, for Bah, previously described his trial as “touching on a highly politicised issue which gives rise to very strong feelings”.
Jurors heard the home-built, low-quality inflatable dinghy should have had no more than 20 people on board, but carried about 45 people in the English Channel that night.
Mr Thomas told the Court of Appeal it had been a “joint endeavour” to travel to the UK.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) opposed the appeal bid.
