THE TRIAL of an Italian man accused of drunkenly running down and killing an Irishman in central Italy continued yesterday.
The Italian lost his bid in the last hearing to be handed a lighter sentence in exchange for pleading guilty after the Irish man’s wife campaigned for the man to serve the full sentence.
Under Italian law defendants in drink-drive incidents can in some cases plead guilty in order to receive a more lenient sentence.
But judges in Ferrara rejected requests by lawyers for Marco Calura (43) to agree to the deal and they said a full trial must go ahead. Calura is charged with manslaughter over the death of Cormac Page (53) from Dublin.
Mr Page’s Italian wife Anna Barbieri has formed an association of victims of drink-drivers in the region to campaign for justice for her husband and others who suffer a similar fate. “It’s the first time that a judge has rejected all requests from the defence team of a drunk driver and it was only possible thanks to our battle,” she said.
In an initial hearing a court heard that Calura lost control of his Mercedes SLK car and smashed into a car driven by Mr Page on a Ferrara road in March last year. Tests later showed Calura was six times over the drink-drive limit.
Mr Page, an English teacher who had been living in Italy since 1998, was killed instantly. A witness gave a statement at the time saying: “The Mercedes was going very fast. He went past me then started to zigzag across the road and smashed into the other car.”