An Italian court convicted the former captain of the Costa Concordia cruise liner yesterday for his role in the 2012 shipwreck that killed 32 people and sentenced him to 16 years in prison.
Francesco Schettino was commanding the vessel, a floating hotel as long as three football pitches, when it came too close to shore and hit rocks off the Tuscan holiday island of Giglio.
Schettino, 54, was charged with multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship in one of the highest-profile shipping disasters in recent years.
However, it is far from certain whether he will actually go to jail before the end of Italy’s long appeals process, which can take years.
Prior to the sentencing, the former captain gave his final address to the court in Grosseto, saying he had been made a scapegoat in a disaster in which 32 people died in January 2012.
Schettino said he had been exposed to a media “meatgrinder” which had “put the entire responsibility for this incident on to me, with no respect for the truth.”
Investigators severely criticised his handling of the disaster, accusing him of bringing the 290 metre-long vessel too close to shore when it struck rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio, tearing a hole in its side and setting off a chaotic night evacuation of more than 4,000 passengers and crew.
He has also been accused of delaying evacuation and abandoning ship before all the 4,229 passengers and crew had been rescued.
Prosecutors asked for a prison sentence of 26 years for Schettino, who admitted some responsibility but denied blame for deaths that occurred during the evacuation.
He was left alone in the dock to answer for the disaster after the ship’s owners Costa Cruises, a unit of Carnival Corp , paid a one million euro fine and prosecutors accepted plea bargains from five other officials.
Schettino’s request for a plea bargain was rejected. Struggling with emotion at times, he rejected prosecution accusations that he had shown no sense of responsibility or compassion for the victims, saying “grief should not be put on show to make a point”.
Schettino’s defence team argued he prevented an even worse disaster by steering the ship close to the island as it sank.
They said the sentence sought by prosecutors goes beyond even sentences sought for mafia killers.
Costa Cruises has offered passengers who suffered no injury €11,000 in compensation but there are those who agree with Schettino that he should not be the only one held to account.