NSW: Boat builder wins appeal over Excalibur yacht deaths

AAP General News (Australia)
12-18-2009
NSW: Boat builder wins appeal over Excalibur yacht deaths

SYDNEY, Dec 18 AAP - A boatbuilder has won his appeal against a manslaughter conviction
over the deaths of four people when their yacht broke up at sea.

The NSW Court of Criminal Appeal on Friday overturned the conviction of Alex Cittadini,
50, the director and engineer of Applied Alloy Yachts.

In July, a NSW District Court judge jailed him for at least 18 months, but granted
him bail pending the outcome of his appeal.

The Excalibur sank in September 2002 when its keel split in two in high winds near
Seal Rocks, off the mid-north coast of NSW, on a voyage from the Whitsundays to Sydney.

Crew members Tracy Luke, 32, Ann Maree Pope, 30, Christopher Hayes, 51, and Peter McLeod,
also 51, died.

AAP mss/wjf/goc/cdh

KEYWORD: EXCALIBUR

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