ITALY: The captain of the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise liner did not abandon ship voluntarily, his lawyer said at the close of a pre-trial hearing on the tragedy

Record ID: 566906

  • Title: ITALY: The captain of the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise liner did not abandon ship voluntarily, his lawyer said at the close of a pre-trial hearing on the tragedy
  • Date: 4th March 2012
  • Summary: GROSSETO, ITALY (MARCH 3, 2012) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF "MODERNO" THEATRE, VENUE OF PRE-TRIAL HEARING MEDIA OUTSIDE THEATRE PEOPLE LEAVING THEATRE LAWYER OF CAPTAIN FRANCESCO SCHETTINO, BRUNO LEPORATTI, ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) LAWYER OF CAPTAIN FRANCESCO SCHETTINO, BRUNO LEPORATTI, SAYING: "When he talked to the judge he gave the t
  • Embargoed: 19th March 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy, Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Accidents
  • Reuters ID: LVA6VO28WHG9W9276VT7GJTMO4PX
  • Story Text: None of the accused in the Costa Concordia ship tragedy attended a pre-trial hearing into the accident on Saturday (March 3), including Captain Francesco Schettino.
    Schettino's lawyer said after the close of the hearing that his client's presence was not required at the hearing in the Tuscan town of Grosseto and he denounced what he called a media campaign against the disgraced captain.
    He also said Schettino did not voluntarily abandon the ship when after the giant cruise liner hit a rock on Jan. 13, killing at least 25 people.
    "When he talked to the judge he gave the truth, in detail, which is that he did not voluntarily abandon ship. If Captain Schettino voluntarily abandoned ship, then everyone, the crew members included, voluntarily abandoned ship. There are several circumstances that are currently being evaluated in the investigations in regards to particular events on the night of the incident," Shettino's lawyer, Bruno Leporatti, said.
    Prosecutors have accused Captain Francesco Schettino of causing the disaster by bringing the multi-storey Costa Concordia, carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew, too close to the shore.
    Lawyer for Costa Crusies, the owners of the vessel, said his client was confirmed on Saturday as a damaged party along with victims in the accident, and not a plaintiff.
    "Costa was already part of the trial as a plaintiff but now the judge has said that rather than a plaintiff they can consider themselves a damaged party," Costa Cruises lawyer, Marco de Luca, said.
    All was quiet in Meta di Sorrento, where Schettino is under house arrest.
    The captain has acknowledged that he brought the ship too close to the shore, but he says he was not the only one to blame for the tragedy.
    Lawyer for his first officer, Ciro Ambrosio, said Saturday that Schettino was not wearing his glasses on the evening of the accident and that Ambrosio was asked to check the radar for him.
    Ambrosio is also under investigation along with seven other officers.
    On Giglio island where the wreck is still being scoured by rescuers, some relatives of the victims came to pay their respects.
    Some say they are furious over the suspension of the identification process of the bodies, after a request from the lawyer for one of the ship's officers under investigation.
    "This lawyer has decided to impose a stand-by, a sort of a stay order, on the DNA results which results in a complete stop to everything. So we don't understand the reason why this has happened, the Italian judge has declared yes, you can, if one of the lawyers is opposed to the DNA it can be accepted, but it's inhumane, it's not something nice. We are waiting, eight families are waiting for their family members, to know what exactly, who is one of the seven or eight people. We know that one of the eight bodies is a child. Even that small girl, five-year-old Dyana is also waiting for the DNA test and her mother is still waiting for her body to give her a nice decent funeral," said Kevin Rebello who is still searching for his brother, Russell Rebello, who worked as a crew member onboard the ship.
    Seven people are still unaccounted.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register