An Italian journalist buried his head in his hands while his pensioner father wept after hearing a High Court judge tell him yesterday he could return home while awaiting trial on a charge related to a double fatal car crash.
Mr Alessandro Antonelli (23), from Florence, is charged with dangerous driving causing death. Mr Justice O'Donovan was told Mr Antonelli was the driver of a car involved in a head-on collision near Arklow on August 26th in which a close friend, an Italian holidaymaker, and an Irish woman were killed. Two of his friends are still in hospital, one seriously injured, the judge heard.
Ms Pauline Walley, counsel for the State, said Mr Antonelli had been granted £10,000 cash bail with restrictions that he live in the State and sign on daily at a Garda station. Earlier this month he had asked to be allowed to return to Italy to await his trial early next year.
Ms Walley opposed the application. She said his father and family friends had raised the £10,000 cash bail almost immediately and if the court were to lift the restrictions the State feared he would not return for his trial.
Mr Antonelli's previous application had been adjourned until yesterday to await an Interpol report on his previous record in Italy. Mr Michael O'Higgins, Mr Antonelli's counsel, said the report showed he had a clear record.
The judge said Mr Antonelli's family was subsidising him and if that ran out he would be destitute. The court had to take into consideration he was presumed innocent until a court would find otherwise.
He would allow Mr Antonelli to return home but would increase the cash bail from £10,000 to £20,000. He could be released from previous bail restrictions as soon as the extra £10,000 was made available to the State.