Court showed how the speedboat crashed, fatally injuring a 15-year-old girl

A shocking video has shown the moments a 15-year-old girl was thrown into the water after a boat crashed into a buoy in Southampton.

Emily Lewis suffered fatal injuries after the RIB she was in, also known as the Rib, collided with the 4.5 meter high structure.

Footage of the incident was shown in court today, amid the trial of speedboat skipper Michael Lawrence.

The 55-year-old is accused of negligent homicide.

Michael Howley, 52, the owner of Seadogz, the company that operated the boat trip, is accused of not operating the boat safely.

A number of other passengers were seriously injured in the accident which occurred in Southhampton at 10:11am on Saturday 22 August 2020.

The boat was traveling at 36.8 knots – 42 miles per hour – at the time of the collision, according to Winchester Crown Court.

In a video clip shown to the jury, the Seadogz rib can be seen heading straight for the buoy before hitting it.

The woman who filmed the incident, who was on a passing ferry, can be heard saying, “Oh my god someone ran over, I think someone ran over, yeah people drove off, there’s people in the water who are.” gone right across the front. My God.’

At today’s hearing, paramedic posed as Megan Hunt, who was visiting Southampton’s Ocean Village with emergency services.

After the passengers were brought ashore, she said Lawrence told her his face mask blew up before the crash and blocked his view.

She said he was “clearly in shock with his head in his hands.”

She said: “Mr Lawrence told me he was driving the boat and the wind was blowing in his face and he was blowing up his visor and face mask and obstructing his vision, I think he was covering his eyes.

“When he got it in place, the buoy was too close to them and he didn’t have time to turn the boat around.”

She added that Lawrence was wearing a face mask because he was doing the shopping for his parents, who were shielding at the time.

Lawrence suffered a knee injury in the collision.

Duncan Christie, a naval officer with Associated British Ports, said he was driving a launch on the day of the crash and became aware of the accident.

He said when he got to the rib he found Lawrence, who he had known since 1996 when they worked together on lifeboats, “very distraught and in a panic.”

Mr Christie said: “He said the Covid mask went up over his face, the wind blew it up and covered his eyes.”

He said Lawrence told him “several times” that this happened before the crash.

Mr. Christie, who had also worked for Seadogz, described Lawrence as a “competent seaman”.

When asked by Lawrence’s attorney, Karim Khalil KC, whether Lawrence was a “safe pair of hands” who could be “totally relied on” and popular within the RNLI community, Mr Christie agreed, saying he was “safe “.

He also agreed with Mr Khalil’s suggestion that Lawrence was “absolutely not the kind of seaman who wants to take risks” or “who aims at a fixed object on purpose”.

The court was presented with an article in the winter of 2010 Lifeboat magazine entitled “Master and Commander,” which detailed a search and rescue mission led by Lawrence for a missing ferry passenger.

Mr Christie’s colleague Jamie McLeod said while attending the accident he saw Ms Lewis aboard a rib as she was being brought ashore.

He said: “She was confused and not well. As I knelt down next to her, I could see immediately that she was very ill, she was very pale, she was breathing.’

Lawrence of Blackfield, New Forest; and Howley of Hordle, New Forest; deny the allegations and the process continues.

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