A dying victim in the Essex lorry recorded a message for relatives saying: ‘I am sorry. I cannot take care of you. I cannot breathe. Have a good life’, a court heard today.
The audio message was made by Nguyen Tho Tuan, 25, for his wife, children and mother after phone signal cut out in the trailer which was later found near Grays.
Eamonn Harrison, 23, and Gheorghe Nica, 43, are accused of killing the men, women and children found dead in the trailer on October 23 last year.
Valentin Calota, 37, and Christopher Kennedy, 24, are also alleged to have assisted in the global smuggling ring, driving ‘desperate’ economic migrants into the UK.
The victims – including eight women and ten teenagers, the youngest of whom were two boys aged 15 – had paid up to £10,000 each for the journey, the court was told.
Prosecutors at the Old Bailey in London claim Irish truck driver Harrison drove the trailer to the Belgian port of Zeebrugge before it sailed to Purfleet in Essex and was picked up by trucker Maurice Robinson, 26, from County Armagh.
Robinson and his haulier boss Ronan Hughes, 40, have admitted the 39 counts of manslaughter which Harrison and British-Romanian alleged ringleader Nica deny.
Police and forensic officers at the Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, Essex, on October 23, 2019 after 39 bodies of Vietnamese migrants were found inside the lorry on the estate
In court today, jurors heard the recording made by Nguyen Tho Tuan at 7.37pm said: ‘It’s Tuan. I am sorry. I cannot take care of you. I am sorry. I am sorry. I cannot breathe. I want to come back to my family. Have a good life.’
Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones said that Mr Tuan’s message was addressed to his wife, children and mother.
Lorry driver Eamonn Harrison, 23, of County Down, is charged with manslaughter
Another male victim made a recording saying: ‘I can’t breathe. I’m sorry. I have to go now,’ adding after a long pause: ‘It’s all my fault.’
Moments later, another voice could be heard saying: ‘He’s dead,’ the prosecutor said.
The temperature had leapt to 35C (95F) by 6.25pm, and the court was shown photographs taken by 26-year-old Pham Thi Tra My after the heat began to reach the ‘unbearable’ highs.
By 6.59pm, another victim had attempted to call emergency services, the court heard.
The prosecutor said that the air in the trailer would have become ‘toxic’ after about nine hours of confinement, and migrants would have started dying shortly after – at around 10pm to 10.30pm.
Cellsite data from the victims’ phones placed them in various locations around Brussels and Paris the day before they died, suggesting they travelled northbound to the Belgian border.
Gheorghe Nica (left) and Eamonn Harrison (right), two of four men on trial at the Old Bailey in London, are pictured in a court sketch drawn on Wednesday by artist Elizabeth Cook
Harrison then arranged to meet the migrants at Chemin Noord Straete, France, where they arrived in taxis and hid in an ‘agricultural shed’ until he collected them, jurors heard.
Passerby Laetitia Mockelyn witnessed the rendezvous, seeing the Vietnamese nationals ‘run into’ their temporary shelter before jumping into the back of a lorry shortly after, it was said.
‘There was an eye-witness to these events. Laetitia Mockelyn saw something of what happened in Chemin Noord Straete. She thought this was at about 10.35am,’ Mr Emlyn Jones said.
‘She saw a vehicle like a van with a taxi sign. The occupants of the taxi were dropped off and ran into an agricultural shed.
‘She then saw the lorry arrive, and the same people ran out of the shed and climbed into the back of the lorry, which then drove away again.
‘She refers to the people she saw as ‘migrants,’ because no doubt what was going on was obvious.’
Mr Emlyn Jones added: ‘At 8.02pm a video file was recorded using a mobile phone. The screen is in darkness.
‘A male voice says ‘I can’t breathe.’ He then stated his own name and address, and went on: ‘I can’t breathe. I’m sorry. I have to go now’.
‘There is at least one other voice audible in the background. In a second video file on the same handset, recorded a minute later, the same voice repeats that he is sorry, and after a long pause adds ‘It’s all my fault.’.
‘After that, another voice can be heard: ‘He’s dead.’ The temperature was still rising and by 9.02pm it had reached 38C.
‘Laura Martin, a forensic scientist and expert in Occupational Hygiene and Health and Safety has calculated the length of time 39 adults could spend in the confined and airtight trailer before the atmosphere became toxic.
‘She estimates that after eight-and-a-half to nine hours after the trailer was sealed shut for the final time, the toxic threshold would have been reached, which would have resulted in deaths occurring shortly thereafter. That would equate to approximately 10pm to 10.30pm.
A court artist’s sketch drawn on Wednesday of Christopher Kennedy (left) and Valentin Calota (right), the other two men on trial at the Old Bailey in London
‘She is reinforced in that opinion by the fact that her estimate time of fatal atmospheric toxicity coincides with the temperature in the trailer reaching its peak of 38.5C (101.3F) between 9.42pm and 10.42pm, after which it began gradually to fall again.’
A port worker who moored the container of dying migrants noticed a ‘pungent’ smell ‘similar to waste,’ the court heard.
The Clementine – the cargo ship on which the trailer had sailed – docked at Purfleet just after midnight on October 23 and was picked up by Robinson at 1.07am.
The migrants are thought to have died at around 10pm to 10.30pm, the court heard.
Mr Emlyn Jones said: ‘We have the MV Clementine docking at Purfleet at 12.18am. Maurice Robinson had arrived at the port to collect it at a quarter to midnight.
‘It had been due to arrive at midnight, and was almost 20 minutes late, so he had to wait a bit.
‘After the trailer had been brought off the ship, Robinson picked it up and left the port with it at 1.07am, and in due course you will see some CCTV from the port confirming the details of Robinson picking [it] up.
‘Incidentally, a man called Jason Rook – a member of staff at the port – had been responsible for taking the trailers off the ship, and he had hooked up to [the trailer] in order to move it ashore.
‘When he left it in its waiting bay, he noticed a pungent smell, which he described as being ‘similar to waste’.’
Earlier today, jurors heard that Robinson made the horrific discovery when he opened the rear doors of the truck moments after leaving the English dock to find the bodies in what had become their ‘tomb’.
Temperatures in the refrigerated trailer had allegedly soared to an ‘unbearable’ 38.5C (101.3F) as its cooler was turned off during the journey.
The smuggling plot operated on a ‘payment on delivery’ basis and he had been sent a message by Hughes saying: ‘Give them air quickly, but don’t let them out,’ the court heard.
Mr Jones told jurors today that the conspirators had carried out the journey successfully on numerous occasions until it went ‘dreadfully wrong.’
Harrison had been caught with illegal immigrants in the back of his truck in 2018 and issued a fine – which he never paid, the court was told.
And Kennedy had been waved on by French border officials when he tried to smuggle two of the Vietnamese migrants who died weeks later, it was said yesterday.
The 20 foreign nationals were taken away by authorities during the trip on October 14 – while he had been allowed to continue along the Eurotunnel, jurors heard.
At least two of those on board tried again and were killed in the fatal journey nine days later.
But despite temperatures reaching highs of 25.2C (77.4F), a load of migrants was delivered to a remote drop-off point at Collingwood Farm in Essex during a second attempt on October 18.
Mr Emlyn Jones asked jurors to question whether – just six days later – the team had been ‘trying to do two loads in one’.
The prosecutor said: ‘We turn now to October 22 and 23 – when what should have been on the face of it an almost identical incident of people smuggling to those we have seen on 11 and 18. But it turned to tragedy.
‘It may well have crossed your minds – why did this trip go so terrible wrong, when on the other occasions the migrants survived the trip and were safely unloaded at Collingwood Farm?
‘You may well conclude that is because this time, the criminals were simply too greedy, at £10,000 a head. So this time they simply had too many people on board – too many people loaded to a single trailer.
Lorry driver Maurice Robinson (pictured), 26, has already admitted 39 counts of manslaughter
‘We know there was enough oxygen in the trailer for the 15 to 20 people inside the trailer on October 10 and 11 – and again on 17 and 18, when there must also have been fewer people inside.
‘We may not determine for sure because the people who know won’t say, but it might not be a coincidence that a lorry-load of migrants was detected on 14, when Kennedy was stopped at Coquelle, and 20 Vietnamese migrants were ejected.
‘We suggest the people smugglers from that consignment… Were under pressure to double up?
‘Remember, at least two of those who were ejected, died on the night of October 22 and 23, so there is a connection. Were the team trying to do two loads in one?’
Harrison, from Mayobridge, County Down, denies 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
Nica, of Basildon, Essex, denies 39 counts of manslaughter but admits one of conspiring to assist unlawful immigration.
Kennedy, of Northern Ireland, and Calota, of Birmingham, each deny conspiring to assist unlawful immigration between May 1, 2018 and October 24, 2019.
The trial continues.