TRANSLATION PROBLEMS marked yesterday’s resumption of the trial in which Friedrich Vernarelli (32) is accused of the manslaughter of Irish women Elizabeth Gubbins and Mary Collins, killed in a hit-and-run incident in Rome on St Patrick’s night 2008.
In evidence occasionally rendered confusing by poor interpreting, US citizen Manuel Ruiz provided the apparent strong point of the defence case with his eyewitness testimony of the incident.
Gym employee Mr Ruiz (25), from Los Angeles, was in Rome with his brother and two friends. They were at the pedestrian crossing where the two women were killed.
He said that he did not see them crossing the road as he had his back half-turned: “Within seconds of stopping at the lights, I heard a loud noise, right in front of me. I thought it was two cars, things were flying everywhere and then I saw someone rolling on the road.
“I got to her within seconds because I wanted to help but when I got to her, I didn’t want to touch her. I knew she was dead,” said Mr Ruiz. He said he had heard no sound of a car braking nor had he heard the two women scream. He presumed they had simply never seen the car coming. It was at this point Mr Ruiz’s evidence touched on what seems to be a key issue.
He said that, as he kneeled over one of the dying women, he noticed a man standing beside a dark Mercedes car whom he took to be the driver. The car then drove off at high speed.
Within 45 minutes of the accident, Mr Ruiz was taken by police to Rome’s Santo Spirito hospital to make a formal identification of Friedrich Vernarelli.
However, he insisted to the court that Mr Vernarelli, who had meantime been arrested for dangerous driving, was not the man he had seen standing at the scene of the crash.
The trial continues.