ROME — Prosecutors asked a court to ******* the captain of the *************** and sentence him to 26 years in prison Monday for the 2012 ********* off Tuscany that ****** 32 people, saying the term is hardly excessive given the ***** toll.
Prosecutor Maria Navarro also asked the court to detain Capt. Francesco Schettino again and seize his passport and navigation license, saying he is a flight risk. She said the trial had proved that Schettino “thought only and always about himself.”
Schettino is being tried for ************, causing the ********* and abandoning the Concordia while many passengers and crew members were still aboard. ********* of the Jan. 13, 2012, wreck described a chaotic and ******* **********, with lifeboats unable to lower because the ship was already listing so much.
Schettino has said he saved lives by steering the liner toward shore after it hit rocks that weren’t on his charts. He has accused his crew of botching his orders and blamed faulty generators aboard the ship for contributing to the ********.
In scathing closing statements in the makeshift courthouse in Grossetto, Navarro accused Schettino of lying from the start, of never apologizing to the ******* and saving his own life “without even getting his shoes wet.”
She said the requested sentence, beyond the 20-year maximum speculated, was not “exaggerated” considering Italy’s high court recently confirmed a 10-year prison sentence for a car ******** that ****** four people.
The defence is expected to respond in court starting Feb. 9, with a verdict expected thereafter.
Defence attorney Donato Laino was incredulous at the prosecutors’ request to re-****** Schettino, saying the flight risk was “nonexistent.”
Schettino was granted house ****** soon after the wreck, and later was allowed to remain in his hometown near Naples during the course of the trial. He has attended most court sessions, though he was absent Monday.
Five other ***** Crociere employees indicted in the case were allowed to enter plea bargains and none is serving prison time.