Italy court upholds 16-year term for Concordia captain

FLORENCE – Agence France-Presse

Florence’s appeals court on May 31 upheld a 16-year jail term for Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship that sank off Italy in 2012 leaving 32 people dead.

Schettino was not in court when the verdict was read out by presiding judge Grazia D’Onofrio.

He will not be jailed immediately pending a possible further appeal and Italy’s crammed jails and generous parole system mean it is unlikely he will ever serve the full term.  

Schettino was sentenced in February 2015 to 16 years and one month in prison after a judge ruled that his 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 Jan. 14, 2012.

The prosecution had asked for his sentence to be increased to 27 years on appeal. Schettino’s lawyers had demanded he be acquitted.

Schettino, 55, was convicted of multiple manslaughter, causing a maritime accident and abandoning ship before all passengers and crew had been evacuated, earning him the nickname “Captain Coward” in the press.

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. The bodies of two of the victims have never been found.

Schettino’s lawyers had insisted the accident and its deadly consequences were primarily due to organizational failings for which the ship’s owner, Costa Crociere, its Indonesian helmsman and the Italian coastguard should have shared the blame.  

They 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. Schettino could not be blamed for the mechanical failures, they said.

Costa Crociere avoided potential criminal charges by accepting partial responsibility and agreeing to pay a one million euro ($1.2 million) fine.

Five of its employees received non-custodial sentences after concluding plea bargains early in the investigation.

They included the ship’s Indonesian helmsman, who could have averted the disaster but did not understand an order given by Schettino to change course just before the collision.