26-year-old Cheya Handley has confessed to being guilty of not doing her job as a deckhand properly and having sex with the captain, Jeremy “JJ” Piggot, while being drunk.
As a result, the luxurious yacht they were on collided and caused damages worth north of $140,000 on March 3rd of last year.
According to Handley, who appeared in front of the Southport Magistrates Court, she was covering a shift at the 80-foot Crystal Blue yacht, when she abandoned her work and started drinking, followed by sexual intercourse with the 46-year-old captain Piggott.
Handley said: “Yeah, I did the wrong thing, drinking on the job. I should have known better; I screwed up big-time. We were chatting, laying down, looking at the stars, and then got it on.”
The pair was transferring the charter boat from a trip to Brisbane to the Gold Coast when the collision occurred.
Without being manned, the boat then continued on its set course and crashed with a navigation beacon and another yacht that was moored in the Gold Coast’s north at Steiglitz.
The disgraced crew member explained she was initially chatting with the captain and looking at the stars before things quickly escalated to a more intimate level.
Meanwhile, Piggott changed the view angle of the security cameras to keep their activities from being recorded.
Handley’s attorney, David Funch, defended his client by claiming the young woman was obeying the orders of the captain, and since she was only a deckhand, she was in no position to argue with her boss.
Funch also stated that even though Handley admitted what she had done, the yacht was not damaged during the 10 minutes in which the couple was involved in the sexual act, but after that.
Handley pled guilty to one count of risking the safety of a person or vessel for the incident that took place in Australia.
The young woman, who was given a six-month $1,000 good behavior bond by the Southport Magistrates Court earlier this month, was also fired by Crystal Blue to right after the incident.
However, a Facebook post from October confirms that she has since been rehired.
She wrote: “We’ve been through so much together from the start. This yacht is super special to me ? I can’t wait for its full brand new makeover! Bring on Summer and the good vibes.”
Handley is reportedly hoping to join the Border Force and work on patrol boats
