Costa Concordia captain pleads for leniency as verdict nears
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Version 0 of 1. Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship that ran aground in 2012 killing 32 people, broke down in tears as he made his final plea for leniency moments before his trial adjourned on Wednesday. Judges are deliberating over the fate of Schettino, who could face 26 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter, causing the wreck of the 115,000-ton cruiser and abandoning ship. A decision could be reached as early as 7pm local time in Grosseto, although it could be delayed until Thursday. In the final minutes of the trial, Schettino portrayed himself as a victim of a “meat-shredding media frenzy”. While he had taken some responsibility for the accident, his lawyers argued that the captain was one of many people who had a hand in the tragedy, and that he was being unfairly singled out. Five other Costa Concordia officials accepted plea bargains in the case and have received suspended sentences. The Carnival Corporation, the owner of the ship, paid a fine of €1m (£740,000) to settle charges. The accident occurred 15 minutes after Schettino made the risky decision to steer the ship close to the Tuscan island of Giglio. He said he did it as a favour to the ship’s head waiter, a native of the island, and to give the passengers a show. The ship hit the island’s rocky shore bed, ripping a 50-metre hole in its hull, flooding the engine room, cutting power and sending the more than 3,000 passengers on board into a panic. As prosecutors wrapped up their case against Schettino, they zeroed in on his decision to delay the evacuation order for more than an hour, which they said was the sole reason there were any fatalities on board. Schettino initially downplayed the incident to passengers and officials on shore, ordering his crew to tell passengers that the ship was suffering from a power outage. Some passengers who later died returned to their cabins after they were reassured that they were not in danger. Instead of an orderly departure on lifeboats, chaos ensued during passengers’ final hours on the ship. Causing the free for all – the prosecutor Alessandro Leopizzi said it was “every man for himself” – was alleged to be Schettino’s most serious crime. But Schettino’s defence team maintained that the delay was justified because he knew the cruiser was floating toward the Giglio shore and he wanted to get passengers as close as possible. |