THE ROME trial of Friedrich Vernarelli (32), an Italian accused of the manslaughter of Irish women Elizabeth Gubbins and Mary Collins in a hit-and-run incident in Rome on St Patrick’s night last, struck a controversial note yesterday when defence lawyers tried to argue that the women may have used the Lungotevere Degli Altoviti pedestrian crossing while the light was showing red against them.
The allegation, which was rejected by lawyers for the two Irish families, appeared to emerge from the testimony of a prosecution witness, engineer Roberto Serino, who carried out an examination of the dynamics of the fatal crash.
Based on calculations, Mr Serino concluded the Mercedes car, allegedly driven by Mr Vernarelli, was travelling at 84km/h when it hit the two women who had gone approximately a third of the way across the pedestrian crossing.
Mr Serino said there were no signs of any brake marks on the asphalt, only the signs left by the two bodies having been dragged for 50m beyond the crossing.
Such was the speed at which the Mercedes was travelling and such is the position of the pedestrian crossing that even if the women had become aware of the car they would have had only 2½ seconds to get out of the way. Lawyers for the Irish families intend to call their own expert witness at the next hearing of the case. He is expected to argue that there is no way anyone can be certain what colour the pedestrian light was at the moment of impact.
The court also heard evidence yesterday from two men who arrived at the crash scene almost immediately after it had happened at about 3am.
Antonio Riso, who lives and works in Frankfurt, was travelling along the Lungotevere when he was forced to pull aside to let a fast-travelling Mercedes overtake him.
When he pulled up beside the Mercedes at the next set of traffic lights, just two sets of lights away from the crash scene, he looked across at the driver of the Mercedes. Asked by public prosecutor Andrea Mosca if Mr Vernarelli was the driver, he said he could not be certain but the driver certainly resembled Mr Vernarelli.
When the lights turned green, Mr Riso was surprised to notice that the Mercedes was slow to move off, eventually passing him a second time seconds later. Almost immediately afterwards, Mr Riso came on the crash. A man stood in the middle of the road flagging down the traffic while he could see the bodies of the two women on the road.
When Mr Riso stopped to see if he could offer help, he noticed the same Mercedes parked down the street just beyond the crash scene.
He noticed a man who looked like Mr Vernarelli walking towards the two bodies.
The man stopped, appeared to put his hands to his head in a distraught gesture, then got back into the Mercedes and drove off. Mr Riso noted the Mercedes’ registration number, recording it on his mobile phone.
Given that Mr Vernarelli’s defence team is likely to argue that it was not Mr Vernarelli but one of two Hungarian friends who was actually driving the car, Mr Riso offered potentially important evidence when he said he saw only one person in and around the Mercedes.
That version of events was also borne out by police officer Sandro Giordani who arrived at the scene shortly after the incident. He noticed the parked Mercedes and a man walking back from the car to the crash scene, before then driving off. Officer Giordani identified the man as Mr Vernarelli, while he also said he had not seen anyone else in or around Mr Vernarelli’s car.
The trial resumes on April 3rd.