ROME: The fate of the captain of the doomed Costa Concordia cruise liner hung in the balance on Friday as the defence wrapped up and judges at Italy’s highest court retired to consider whether to confirm his conviction.
Francesco Schettino, dubbed “Captain Coward” by the press for abandoning the stricken ship during the 2012 tragedy that killed 32 people, will be jailed if the court upholds his 16-year prison sentence.
The judges decision was expected to come later on Friday.
They could also order the case to be reviewed by a fresh appeals court.
Schettino, 56, was convicted in 2015 of multiple counts of manslaughter, causing a maritime accident and abandoning ship before all passengers and crew had been evacuated.
He was not at the hearing at the Court of Cassation in Rome on Friday.
His lawyer Saverio Senese said he was not at home in Meta di Sorrento either, but waiting “elsewhere, far from the spotlight”.
However, if the court upheld the sentence, Schettino would “turn himself in immediately” to the nearest prison, he said.
“I’m expecting Schettino to finally serve time. We don’t want a trial without end, we want a final verdict,” said Alessandra Guarini, a lawyer for relatives of the victims.
Prosecutors have argued Schettino’s recklessness was to blame for the fate of the giant ship, which struck underwater rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio on the night of January 13, 2012, and toppled over.
The violation of the ancient code of the sea which states a captain must be the last man off a sinking ship only accounted for one year of the sentence handed down by a three-judge panel in the Tuscan town of Grosseto.
During the first 19-month trial, Schettino was accused of showing off when he steered the ship too close to the island while entertaining a female friend.
The ship had been carrying 4,229 people, including 3,200 tourists.
Schettino’s lawyers had insisted the accident and its deadly consequences were primarily due to organisational failings for which the ship’s owner, Costa Crociere, its Indonesian helmsman and the Italian coastguard should have shared the blame.
“He didn’t intend to go that close, and when he saw the froth from the rocks he gave the order to the helmsman (to change course), the helmsman made no fewer than eight mistakes,” Senese said.
The defence has also argued that it was not the collision, but rather the chaos that ensued due to the ship losing power that was the direct cause of the deaths.
Senese asked on Friday for permission to show the court a DVD on faults to the watertight doors on board the massive cruiser which they insist played a part in the tragedy, but the judges ruled against him. — AFP
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