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Court orders sale of gambling ship

The Niobe Corinthian gambling ship is to be appraised and sold, Chief Justice Richard Ground this afternoon ruled.Selling the $4 million vessel will allow three former crew members, from Honduras, to receive the $40,000 in wages unpaid to them by its owners, Estrella Management.No representative from that company was in Supreme Court this afternoon, when lawyer Craig Rothwell made his final submission before Mr Justice Ground.An affidavit showed that a writ had been served on the ship on June 21. It was deemed sufficient that the writ was served on the property, rather than served personally on its owners who have not responded to it, and have not been publicly named.The Chief Justice granted a judgment in default in favour of the three defendants, Captain Pablo Riera Sr, his son Pablo Jr and crewman Juan Aleman.They will receive $27,451, $6,416 and $6,416 respectively.The withheld monies date back to September last year.Stranded in Bermuda and living on charity, the three men were able to return to Honduras after Capital G, which holds one of the two trusts that jointly own Estrella Management, sponsored their tickets home.A representative from the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU), which has sponsored the case, shook Mr Rothwell’s hand at the judgment.“The next step is for the court bailiffs to appoint someone who is qualified to put a value on the ship,” Mr Rothwell said.