Restricted Case File

“Big” Benny Carter

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Maritime Evidence Dossier “Big” Benny Carter

Subject: “Big” Benny Carter

Overview

This dossier contains confidential records for “Big” Benny Carter.

Material is provisional, cross-referenced from recovered files, protected records, and field notes.

FORMAL SAFETY INTERVIEW RECORD

SUBJECT: “Big” Benny Carter

CLASSIFICATION: OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE // SAFETY INVESTIGATION

REFERENCE: CONTROLLED COPY // COT/MARINE/2035/CTC053

Document control

CASE REFERENCE: COT/MARINE/2035/CTC053

SUBJECT: “Big” Benny Carter

CENTRAL RECORD: COTDAEB413D01B10

RANK / APPOINTMENT: Large crewman who senses the ship’s wrongness before collision

ORGANISATION: MS Orion Star crew

VESSEL / POSTING: MS Orion Star

ALIAS / CODENAME: Big Benny

DATE OF BIRTH: 1997-06-03

PLACE / NATIONALITY: Unknown, Unknown, Not established

INTERVIEW STATUS: Witness / account holder

LOCATION: Secure interview suite — location withheld

DATE: 19 September 2035

LEAD AUTHORITY: Marine Accident Investigation Branch

RECORDING MEDIA: Two sealed digital masters and one independent evidential hash

DISTRIBUTION: Named recipients only. No automated onward distribution.

NOTE: Handling notice. This document contains operational, personal and evidential material. It may be read only by a person with both the required clearance and a recorded need to know. Extraction of images, transcript segments or metadata creates a new controlled copy.

Identity and visual evidence control

VISUAL ASSET STATUS: Passport image: attached; dossier image frames available: 3; surveillance frames available: 1; identity match: matched by subject/asset map.

Passport-style identity photograph for “Big” Benny Carter — IDENTITY EXHIBIT P-01 Controlled identity photograph retained for internal case comparison. Not for release outside this compartment; confirm against the subject record and custody ledger.

Reason for interview or reconstruction

This record concerns the subject's knowledge of events, communications and decisions under active investigation. The scope of this record is confined to the matters set out above and to evidence formally introduced during the session.

Preliminary investigator note

The subject arrived before the scheduled time, requested confirmation that the recording route was isolated, and inspected the exhibit seals before answering substantive questions.

Recorded interview transcript

LEAD INSPECTOR: State your full name for the record.

“BIG” BENNY CARTER: “Big” Benny Carter

LEAD INSPECTOR: Do you understand the status of this interview and the limits placed on distribution?

“BIG” BENNY CARTER: I understand. My agreement to answer does not waive any objection already entered into the record.

LEAD INSPECTOR: Have you been offered the representation, legal advice or staff support applicable to this procedure?

“BIG” BENNY CARTER: Yes. I am proceeding under the conditions already stated.

DOCUMENTARY EXHIBIT D-01 Retained extract: Investigators retained a record concerning the retained record concerning “Big” Benny Carter.

LEAD INSPECTOR: Do you accept that this extract accurately records an event in which you were involved?

“BIG” BENNY CARTER: That is what the system reported. It is not necessarily what the equipment physically did. If the original is no longer available, that absence should remain part of your finding.

LEAD INSPECTOR: What did you understand at that moment, before later analysis supplied a larger explanation?

“BIG” BENNY CARTER: The timing is supportable. Attribution is not. If the original is no longer available, that absence should remain part of your finding.

DOCUMENTARY EXHIBIT D-02 Retained extract: Investigators retained a record concerning the retained record concerning “Big” Benny Carter.

LEAD INSPECTOR: Do you accept that this extract accurately records an event in which you were involved?

“BIG” BENNY CARTER: That is what the system reported. It is not necessarily what the equipment physically did. The missing interval matters more than the wording placed around it afterwards.

LEAD INSPECTOR: Who else was physically present and capable of confirming your account without relying on the same electronic record?

“BIG” BENNY CARTER: That is what the system reported. It is not necessarily what the equipment physically did. Check the physical record against the unprocessed record before you accept the later label.

LEAD INSPECTOR: Are you saying the official record is wrong?

“BIG” BENNY CARTER: I am saying the record should remain evidence, not become an alibi for the system that produced it.

DOCUMENTARY EXHIBIT D-03 Retained extract: Investigators retained a record concerning the retained record concerning “Big” Benny Carter.

LEAD INSPECTOR: Do you accept that this extract accurately records an event in which you were involved?

“BIG” BENNY CARTER: That is what the system reported. It is not necessarily what the equipment physically did. the person who held the contemporaneous log can confirm the sequence, but not necessarily the interpretation.

LEAD INSPECTOR: Why was the matter not escalated through the ordinary reporting route?

“BIG” BENNY CARTER: I preserved the raw state before testing the explanation. Anything else would have changed the evidence. If the original is no longer available, that absence should remain part of your finding.

Restricted surveillance exhibit S-01 concerning “Big” Benny Carter — SURVEILLANCE EXHIBIT S-01 Internal surveillance frame retained under the case evidence schedule. Do not treat date, location, association or conduct as established without the source ledger and adjacent frames.

[Exhibit S-01 introduced. Subject permitted to inspect the displayed copy without handling the source medium.]

LEAD INSPECTOR: Do you identify the person shown as yourself?

“BIG” BENNY CARTER: I identify myself in the frame. I cannot authenticate the date from the crop alone.

LEAD INSPECTOR: Can you establish the location or date from anything visible in the frame?

“BIG” BENNY CARTER: The location is supportable from the surroundings. The purpose you are implying is not.

LEAD INSPECTOR: Were you aware that the image was being made?

“BIG” BENNY CARTER: I was not aware of the camera at the time shown.

LEAD INSPECTOR: Who had advance knowledge of your presence at that location?

“BIG” BENNY CARTER: That depends on whether the source is an official system, a copied feed or a separate observer.

LEAD INSPECTOR: What does this image prove, and what does it not prove?

“BIG” BENNY CARTER: Preserve the frames before and after it. A single image is a fact about light, not a complete account of conduct.

Dossier visual exhibit C-02 concerning “Big” Benny Carter — DOSSIER IMAGE EXHIBIT C-02 Internal restricted case image retained in the subject folder. Use only within this compartment; verify context against the interview record, source ledger and custody notes.

[Exhibit S-02 introduced. Subject permitted to inspect the displayed copy without handling the source medium.]