A skipper has been cleared of killing his mate in a drunken boat crash in Mandurah, Western Australia.
Immediately, Kyle Hartigan was cleared of his good friend Daniel Lloyd's manslaughter, two years on from the lethal morning on the Mandurah estuary.
The 27-year-old was accused of driving his dad's boat drunk, at nighttime, and at extreme speeds, earlier than crashing right into a navigation beacon in 2020.
Each males have been thrown overboard.
Lloyd hit his head and died virtually instantly, his mate the one surviving witness.
Hartigan insisted it was the opposite man behind the wheel, whereas prosecutors argued 35-year-old Lloyd was by no means driving that evening and did not also have a skipper's ticket.
Hartigan wept within the dock when he heard the phrases "not responsible", free to go and put a darkish chapter behind him.
However for the heartbroken household left behind, transferring on is not really easy.
"We have simply bought to say relaxation in peace Daniel," Lloyd's mum Susan instructed media outdoors the courtroom.
His sister Natalie Leisfield including: "We all know the reality of what occurred that evening."