GRANDFATHER RELEASED AFTER DUI BOAT CRASH KILLED HIS TWO GRANDCHILDREN — THEIR FATHER PLEADED FOR HIM TO COME HOME

BERKELEY TOWNSHIP, NEW JERSEY — A heartbreaking courtroom decision has added another chapter to the tragedy that claimed the lives of two young New Jersey siblings.

Stephen Schneider, 64, was released from jail Wednesday after prosecutors revealed that his blood-alcohol concentration was allegedly 0.16 — twice New Jersey’s legal limit — when his boat crashed into a channel marker last month, killing his two grandchildren.

The children, 9-year-old Mya Bella Golabek and 7-year-old Sigmund Paul Golabek, were thrown from Schneider’s boat during the nighttime crash on Barnegat Bay on July 19. Both were wearing life jackets but were found unresponsive in the water. They later died at a hospital despite CPR efforts.

PROSECUTORS REVEAL HOW IMPAIRED SCHNEIDER ALLEGEDLY WAS

At Wednesday’s hearing, prosecutors argued that Schneider should remain behind bars, emphasizing the alleged 0.16 BAC and the seriousness of the consequences.

“The defendant consumed enough alcohol to reach a BAC of approximately 0.16 and then operated a vessel and the result was catastrophic,” prosecutor Kate Burke argued, according to the New York Post.

Schneider had previously told investigators that he drank three beers over approximately two hours during dinner with his family.

The crash happened later that night when his 28-foot Tidewater boat struck a wooden channel marker while traveling through the waterway.

Authorities have said the investigation remains ongoing.

THE CHILDREN’S FATHER MADE AN EXTRAORDINARY PLEA

Despite the devastating loss, the children’s father asked the court to release Schneider.

His attorney read a letter in which the father described Schneider as a loving grandfather and an important part of the family.

He wrote that Schneider had been there for his family in ways that words could not fully express and said he was grateful for the love Schneider had shown his children.

The defense argued that Schneider’s own family members were asking for his release because they were grieving and needed him.

His attorney also told the judge that Schneider had suffered injuries in the crash and remained under medical care.

A FAMILY DINNER ENDED IN A NIGHTMARE

Earlier that evening, the family had gathered for dinner at MJ’s Restaurant Bar & Grill in Bayville.

Mya and Sigmund had arrived with their parents in a separate boat. After dinner, the children wanted to return to their grandparents’ home with Schneider and his wife.

That decision would become the final journey of their lives.

Around 9 p.m., Schneider’s boat struck the channel marker, sending both children into the dark water.

Their grandfather and grandmother pulled them from the bay and attempted CPR before emergency crews transported them to the hospital.

Neither child survived.

JUDGE ORDERS CONDITIONAL RELEASE

Judge Wendel Daniels ultimately granted Schneider’s release.

As part of the conditions, Schneider is prohibited from operating a boat or motor vehicle while he completes a court-ordered assessment. His defense has also indicated that he will not operate a boat or consume alcohol again.

Schneider faces two counts of reckless vessel homicide/death by vessel, along with charges of operating a vessel under the influence and reckless operation of a vessel.

His next court appearance is scheduled for September 15.

TWO CHILDREN, ONE FAMILY LEFT HEARTBROKEN

Mya and Sigmund were remembered by their loved ones as siblings who were also best friends.

Their deaths have left a family confronting an unbearable contradiction: the person accused of causing the tragedy is also someone they loved.

For the children’s father, the request for Schneider’s release appears to come not from forgetting what happened, but from the complicated reality of losing his children while still wanting a family member to be there for those left behind.

The criminal case will now continue in court.

But for Mya and Sigmund’s family, the most painful part of the story is already permanent.

Two children went out on the water with their grandfather. They never came home.

The allegations against Schneider remain allegations unless proven in court.