The trial ended after a fatal boat accident at Tjörn

The freighter Misje Verde hit a leisure boat at the end of July off Tjörn. The mother and daughter in the family died while the father and son survived.

A month later, the captain of the Norwegian-flagged vessel and the Norwegian Maritime Administration's pilot were charged with causing the death of another, causing bodily harm and negligence in maritime traffic.

According to the investigation, the ship was guided by the pilot on its way from Uddevalla and out to sea. The captain, who is a Russian citizen, was on the bridge but was working on administrative tasks on his computer.

Prosecutor James von Reis argued during the trial that both men had breached their responsibility to keep a constant lookout over the fairway, according to Rule 5 of the Seaway.

However, Thomas Håkansson, the pilot's defender, said that responsibility cannot be delegated to a pilot.

He also presented an analysis showing that the Misje Verde had a "dead angle" several hundred meters greater than what is allowed for a ship of that type.

- Visually, he could not see as much as he thought from the bridge. The defense's view is that this terrible accident has been caused by a number of unfortunate circumstances, said Thomas Håkansson in connection with the trial.

None of the men on board the jetty had seen the pleasure boat.

- I didn't notice anything about the accident when it happened, but I will carry it with me for the rest of my life. This has taken me very hard, the pilot said in his interrogation.

Lawyer Taavi Tuula, who represents the captain, stressed that the pilot had never called for help from the captain in keeping a lookout.

Another key issue during the trial was whether the pilot and captain had breached maritime rule 13, which states that overtaking vessels must always give way to the overtaking vessel.

The defense has referred to maritime rule 9 which states that vessels shorter than 20 metres, such as the leisure boat in which the family was travelling, may not obstruct the passage of another vessel in narrow waterways. Both lawyers also stressed that the pleasure boat had also had a responsibility in the accident.

The prosecutor had requested "a few months in prison" for the two men.

The captain had been in custody for just over a month at the time of the last day of the trial and was released pending judgment.