Captain Coward sentenced to 16 years in jail
The captain of the "Costa Concordia", Schettino, turned himself in on May 12 after Italy's highest court upheld his 16-year prison sentence for the tragedy that killed 32 people. Francesco Schettino, dubbed "Captain Coward" by the press for abandoning the stricken ship during the disaster, passed through the gates of the Rebibbia jail in Rome as soon as the judges ruled. Schettino, 56, was convicted in 2015 - three years after the incident - of multiple counts of manslaughter, causing a maritime accident and abandoning ship before all passengers and crew had been evacuated. Prosecutors argued that Schettino's recklessness was to blame for the fate of the giant ship, which struck 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. Schettino's lawyers 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. The defence 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. Senese had asked on May 12 for permission to show the court a DVD on faults to the watertight doors on board the massive cruiser which they insisted played a part in the tragedy, but the judges ruled against him. 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.
