A talented 14-year-old boy was killed when he was hit by 'fast-moving, unlicensed speedboat' while snorkelling during a round-the-world trip with his family

Eddie Jarman, a talented musician, had been checking the anchor of his family's yacht off the coast of Mo'orea near Tahiti in 2020.

But as he was swimming a five metre-long speedboat piloted by a local man with his girlfriend beside him hit the teenager.

Eddie was struck by the propeller of the semi-rigid boat, causing catastrophic injuries to his chest and head.

The woman called out to his family, and the teenager was rushed ashore, where he was given first aid by emergency teams.

After battling to save him for more than an hour Eddie, a talented musician, was eventually pronounced dead in Afareaitu on the island of Mo'orea at around 4pm the same day.

A manslaughter investigation into his death was launched in Tahiti, though the case was later dismissed by a judge.

Today, an inquest in Brighton, Eddie's parents Harry Jarman and Barbara Genda condemned the decision not to charge the pilot of the boat with involuntary manslaughter. 

They hit out at the investigation carried out by police in French Polynesia and claimed it was flawed.

They said the boat had been travelling 'too fast' and 'too close' to their boat and said they believe the pilot had been driving 'drunk and recklessly' at the time of the accident.

Barbara Genda said Eddie, who was swimming with an orange snorkel with a red tip, had been clearly visible to other sailors in the area.

She told the inquest: 'There was a witness in a boat 50 metres away, so it is inconceivable that the driver who drove over him couldn't see him.'

The inquest also heard that while the boat was mechanically sound, the pilot did not possess an adequate navigation licence, as his had expired.

The inquest heard the family's yacht was anchored in Opunohu Bay on the island of Mo'orea near Tahiti on August 9 2020, and the family were relaxing onboard after lunch.

Eddie, a talented musician and pupil at Cumnor House, Danehill, told his family he was going to go snorkelling to check the anchor and see if he could see any interesting fish.

The hearing was told he had strayed away from the boat and was up to 15 metres away from the family yacht, and was snorkelling in a navigation channel used by vessels to approach the beach.

The hearing was told the couple in the speedboat had been to a restaurant and shared a bottle of wine at lunch, and were returning to the island of Mo'orea.

As well as consuming wine at lunch, they had also stayed up the night before until around 2am partying with friends.

Giving an interview to French Polynesian police, the unnamed speedboat pilot said he was driving through the middle of the navigation channel when he felt the boat hit something under the surface.

'I thought is that a piece of wood or a coconut or a turtle. That's when I saw a body.'

The hearing was told the speedboat was thought to be travelling within the 20 knot speed limit in Opunohu Bay.

However, Mr Jarman told police the pilot of the three-tonne speedboat was coming at full speed down the navigation channel into the bay.

He told officers: 'I thought: "He's going too fast, much too close to us." The boat was practically skimming above the surface of the water. I turned round and thought: "He's crazy."'

Ms Genda told the inquest that the boat was 'planing' across the surface of the water and was likely to be travelling much faster.

Moments later, he heard the woman shouting, and when he and his wife looked out they saw their son being cradled by the woman in the water with blood around them.

They saw that Eddie, who had been swimming up to 15 metres from the family yacht, had a gash to his head and that he appeared to be unconscious.

Blood samples were taken from the pilot and, despite having had wine and drunk the night before, they came back negative for alcohol.

Eddie's parents questioned the tests and asked for samples to be retested, only to be turned down.

They said repeated efforts to question the evidence were turned down by the authorities in French Polynesia.

Joe Turner, area coroner for West Sussex, Brighton and Hove, said Eddie had been snorkelling in a horizontal position when he was hit by the boat propeller and suffered traumatic injuries.

He gave the cause of death as haemorrhagic shock and ruptured spleen and said the injuries were 'unsurvivable'.

The coroner also considered whether the case merited a conclusion of gross negligence manslaughter, but felt it did not reach the legal standard required.

He said it failed on the test of whether the evidence clearly showed the actions of the pilot had been 'exceptionally bad' and 'so reprehensible' that it justified a criminal sanction.

'Eddie died immediately after from injuries sustained when he was struck by a propeller of a fast-moving, unlicensed speed boat when he was snorkelling in the vicinity of his family's boat,' he said.

Mr Jarman, now 60, a visual effects artist, and Ms Genda, now 51, a furniture designer, lived in the affluent village of West Hoathly in West Sussex.

They had hatched a plan to go on a round-the-world trip and sold their £1million family home in November 2018.

Harry, a skilled sailor, chose a three-cabin 55ft Discovery yacht because of its reputation for being reliable and safe, and the family embarked on their two-year adventure.

They sailed from Lanzarote to the Caribbean in 2019, then cruised the Atlantic through Aruba, Colombia, and Panama. They explored Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands before heading to French Polynesia.

The couple had been in the area for around four days and had moved close to the island to get an internet connection when the accident happened.

The hearing was told the family had spent more than five years pursuing the case in Tahiti and were 'exhausted' by the failure to hold the pilot to account for the death of their son.

The family said they were too upset at the end of the hearing to comment further.

Eddie had been due to start a scholarship in January 2021 at Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex, and played piano, violin and double bass to a high standard.

In the wake of his death, they set up the Eddie Jarman Young Musicians Fund to support specialist music tuition and instrument hire for talented and dedicated children of modest and disadvantaged means in Britain and French Polynesia. To date, it has raised more than £50,000.