Concordia captain will face trial for shipwreck
Source: Agencies |
May 23, 2013, Thursday
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AN Italian judge has ordered the captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship to stand trial for manslaughter in the vessel's shipwreck off the coast of Tuscany, which killed 32 people.
Judge Pietro Molino, at a closed-door hearing yesterday in the town of Grosseto, agreed to prosecutors' request that Captain Francesco Schettino of Italy be tried on charges of manslaughter, causing the shipwreck and abandoning the vessel while many of its 4,200 passengers and crew were still aboard.
On the night of January 13, 2012, the Concordia hit a jagged reef, which gashed its hull on one side, causing the ship to rapidly take on water just off the island of Giglio in the Mediterranean Sea.
Passengers said the ship's evacuation was delayed and chaotic. The cruise ship listed so badly to one side that some life boats couldn't be launched, and many people aboard had to jump into the sea and swim to the tiny island in the dark.
Schettino will be the only defendant in the trial, which begins on July 9. The five other defendants successfully sought plea bargains, which are now being handled separately.
Schettino risks up to 20 years in prison if convicted. He contends he is innocent and is being made a scapegoat, insisting that the reef wasn't marked on the ship's navigational charts. He has also depicted himself as a hero in the tragedy, saying he skillfully steered the stricken ship closer to Giglio's harbor, thus facilitating the rescue of the survivors.
His lawyer, Francesco Pepe, told reporters the judge rejected the defense's request to throw out the charge of abandoning the ship. The judge last week rejected Schettino's plea-bargain bid, which would have drastically reduced his sentence in case of a conviction.
The disgraced captain attended the hearing yesterday but made no comment afterward.
"Schettino is calm," the Italian news agency LaPresse quoted Pepe, his lawyer, as saying.
Judge Pietro Molino, at a closed-door hearing yesterday in the town of Grosseto, agreed to prosecutors' request that Captain Francesco Schettino of Italy be tried on charges of manslaughter, causing the shipwreck and abandoning the vessel while many of its 4,200 passengers and crew were still aboard.
On the night of January 13, 2012, the Concordia hit a jagged reef, which gashed its hull on one side, causing the ship to rapidly take on water just off the island of Giglio in the Mediterranean Sea.
Passengers said the ship's evacuation was delayed and chaotic. The cruise ship listed so badly to one side that some life boats couldn't be launched, and many people aboard had to jump into the sea and swim to the tiny island in the dark.
Schettino will be the only defendant in the trial, which begins on July 9. The five other defendants successfully sought plea bargains, which are now being handled separately.
Schettino risks up to 20 years in prison if convicted. He contends he is innocent and is being made a scapegoat, insisting that the reef wasn't marked on the ship's navigational charts. He has also depicted himself as a hero in the tragedy, saying he skillfully steered the stricken ship closer to Giglio's harbor, thus facilitating the rescue of the survivors.
His lawyer, Francesco Pepe, told reporters the judge rejected the defense's request to throw out the charge of abandoning the ship. The judge last week rejected Schettino's plea-bargain bid, which would have drastically reduced his sentence in case of a conviction.
The disgraced captain attended the hearing yesterday but made no comment afterward.
"Schettino is calm," the Italian news agency LaPresse quoted Pepe, his lawyer, as saying.
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