Captain, first mate slain in alleged mutiny at sea
By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer
A 21-year-old ship's cook from China was accused yesterday of killing his captain and first mate to seize control of their ship in a March 14 mutiny on the high seas southeast of Hawai'i.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
Officials said Shi Lei kept control of the ship and a crew of about 30 at knifepoint for two harrowing days after stabbing both men to death, and throwing the captain's body overboard.
The Full Means No. 2, a fishing boat owned by the Taiwan-based FCF Fishery Co., is anchored off the Honolulu International Airport's reef runway. The ship's cook allegedly killed the ship's captain and first mate.
When a Coast Guard cutter couldn't get close enough to board the ship, two crew members from the fishing boat jumped into the ocean to get their message of murder and mayhem to U.S. officials.
Shi Lei was the only individual charged in the case.
If convicted, Shi Lei could face the death penalty under U.S. law.
Other members of the crew aboard the 195-foot Seychelles fishing vessel "Full Means No. 2" said the defendant fatally stabbed Capt. Chen Chung-She and First Mate Li Da Feng, after asking in vain to return to his home in China, U.S. Attorney Edward H. Kubo Jr. said.
The captain's body was thrown overboard, witnesses said. The FBI found the first mate's body, with stab wounds, in a ship's freezer when agents boarded the vessel Wednesday five miles south of Honolulu.
Kubo refused to comment on the possibility that the United States prosecution involving deaths of foreign nationals on the high seas could cause friction between China and the United States, or with Taiwan, the home of the slain captain. A Taiwan official here declined comment last night, and officials of the People's Republic of China could not be reached.
"I am going to prosecute this case until someone tells me to stop," Kubo said.
Officials said they could not recall a similar case in Hawai'i.
Shi Lei was charged with unlawfully and intentionally seizing the ship by killing the captain and first mate. Kubo did not say whether others assisted Shi Lei but said crew members were cooperating with the investigation.
Shi Lei is scheduled to appear before a U. S. magistrate here today to be informed of the charges and have a lawyer appointed to represent him. Kubo named Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Brady to handle the prosecution, and said the Coast Guard will continue to play a key role in the complex case.
In a press conference and an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint, Kubo and FBI Supervisory Special Agent Paul G. Amoy laid out the following scenario:
The Full Means No. 2, a longline fishing boat owned by the Taiwan-based FCF Fishery Co. and registered under a flag of convenience in the Indian Ocean nation of Seychelles, was somewhere southeast of Hawaii on March 14 when Shi Lei argued with his captain about returning to China.
In the first argument, the captain struck Shi Lei. Later that evening, another argument broke out between Shi Lei and the captain and the first mate on the bridge of the ship.
Second Mate Xiong Yan Long was on the deck at the time of the stabbing and heard a commotion on the bridge. When he arrived at the bridge, he saw the first mate was bleeding from the abdomen. The first mate told Xiong Yan Long that Shi Lei "killed me."
When another crew member, Su Yuan Hua, helped the first mate to his quarters, the first mate told him a murder had occurred and that the murderer was the cook. Shi Lei was identified by various crew members as the cook aboard the ship.
"Shi Lei was also seen holding a bloody knife," Kubo said.
Wielding the knife, Shi Lei ordered the crew to sail to the west, and forced them to throw the captain's body overboard. The first mate died 12 hours after the stabbing.
The crew overpowered Shi Lei on Saturday and tied him up, and headed for U.S. territorial waters to seek help.
The ship was reported missing Monday by the Norton Lilly International Company.
The company told the Coast Guard the ship had failed to report in for the past three days and may have been hijacked.
That day, a Coast Guard C-130 airplane spotted the vessel about 180 nautical miles south-southeast of Hilo.
On Tuesday, the Coast Guard Cutter Kiska intercepted the ship about 60 nautical miles south-southeast of Hilo. The Full Means No. 2 fired off a red flare and rigged fenders on the ship to permit the Coast Guard to board, but because of rough weather (seas of 10 feet and 20 knot winds), boarding was not attempted.
A satellite positioning system indicated the ship was headed for the Big Island at 12 nautical miles per hour.
Later that day, two of the approximately 30 crew members aboard the ship were seen jumping from the ship into the ocean and were picked up by the Coast Guard.
One of the crew members carried a letter, signed by 27 crew members and written in Chinese, addressed to the "Hawaiian Government."
An FBI translator said the letter reported that Shi Lei had argued with the captain and killed him and the first mate with a knife and had ordered the ship to sail westward
Coast Guard spokeswoman Lauren Smith said that in the interest of the safety of the remaining crew the Coast Guard boarded the ship later Tuesday in international waters about 13 miles south of the Big Island, just outside the 12-mile line marking territorial waters of the United States.
The FBI affidavit said the ship continued toward Hawai'i, "causing Shi Lei to be found in the United States."
By Wednesday, the ship had arrived just off Honolulu, and was boarded at 2:45 p.m. by a task force including agents of the FBI, Immigration and Nationalization Service and Customs.
The body of Li Da Feng, found in the freezer, was identified by Li Da Feng's brother, Li Da Yun. The body appeared to have two wounds on the right wrist, and witnesses said Li Da Feng also had wounds to the upper left chest, lower back, and in one of his feet.
The latter wounds could not be confirmed immediately because the man's clothing was frozen to his body.
Kubo declined to say if the ship or the crew members were free to leave. The vessel remained anchored off the Honolulu Airport reef runway last night.
Taiwanese-owned fishing vessels often hire citizens of Mainland China as crew, but the nationality of all crew members was not released.
Kubo said U. S. Attorney General John Ashcroft has not made a decision whether to seek the death penalty in the case. If convicted but not condemned to death, Lei could be imprisoned for life.
Shi Lei is the seventh defendant in the past five years to have been charged with a federal capital offense in Hawai'i.
The Attorney General decided against seeking the death penalty in five of the previous six cases, and the defendant in the sixth case, Richard Chong, eventually pleaded guilty to a charge of first degree murder not punishable by death.
Reach Walter Wright at wwright @honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8054.
