A Danish court has found a Nigerian man guilty of endangering the lives of Danish military personnel in a shooting incident last November involving Denmark’s navy and a crew of suspected Nigerian pirates in the Gulf of Guinea.
The incident began a year ago shortly after the Danish frigate Esbern Snares arrived in the Gulf of Guinea on a mission to enhance maritime security. The frigate dispatched a helicopter on November 24, 2021, after receiving reports of increased danger and possible pirate sightings in the gulf.
When the helicopter reached the site, it identified a small boat believed to be carrying eight or nine men and equipment which the Danes believed were the tools for piracy. A frogmen crew later confronted the small boat and ended up in a firefight with the Danish soldiers insisting that they only fired in self-defense.
Four men aboard the small boat were killed, another wounded, and three others taken into custody. It was later determined that another person likely went overboard during the firefight and was lost. The wounded man was first medically treated on the Esbern Snares but it was determined that his leg was infected and needed to be amputated. He was sent to Ghana for medical treatment and later transferred to Denmark.
Danish prosecutors sought to find a place to send the three others in Africa. Unable to find another country willing to deal with the suspects they were later released.
The man taken to Denmark argued in court on Monday, that he had only wanted to go to sea and was not armed and did not take part in the shooting. The court however found by association with the other suspects and being aboard the boat when shots were fired at the Danish soldiers the man had indeed endangered the safety of the Danes. He was found guilty by the court on those charges.
However, the court declined to sentence the Nigerian, Lucky Frances, 40, despite a call from the prosecutor for a prison sentence of 12 to 15 months.
As part of international anti-piracy efforts, Denmark deployed a frigate to the Gulf of Guinea in October last year. The following month, it intervened in an alleged attack on a commercial vessel, killing four pirates and capturing four other suspects.
“The court emphasized that the (40-year-old) man, together with the other perpetrators, fulfilled all the signs of piracy and had to be described as a pirate group,” Copenhagen city court said in a statement.
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Frances, who was injured during a fire fight with Danish navy personnel in the November clash, was taken to Denmark for prosecution in January after being treated at a hospital in Ghana. Danish authorities deemed it unsafe to release him in Ghana. His leg was amputated as a result of his injuries.
Frances was exempted from any legal consequences due to his medical condition and the fact that charges against the other three suspected pirates had been dropped, his lawyer Jesper Storm Thygesen told Reuters.
Charges against the three other suspected Nigerian pirates were dropped in January, after Denmark failed to find a country in the region to take them. They were released from detention on the frigate and put to sea in a small dinghy in the Gulf of Guinea.
Frances will remain in custody until both sides have decided whether to appeal against the verdict, Thygesen said.
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