Concordia captain seeks new plea deal

Lawyers for Francesco Schettino, captain of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia cruise liner, will again request a plea deal in a trial over the disaster in which 32 people died, his defence said today.

Schettino faces charges including manslaughter and causing the loss of his ship in the accident in January 2012 when the huge liner struck a rock off the picturesque island of Giglio and keeled onto its side, setting off a chaotic night evacuation of more than 4,000 passengers and crew.

Defence lawyer Donato Laino told reporters Schettino would offer to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of three years and five months, which would allow the complex trial to be resolved more quickly. A previous offer to serve three years and four months was rejected in May.

Five other officials - four ship’s officers and the crisis coordinator of the vessel’s owners, Costa Cruises - were allowed to present plea bargains for more lenient sentences, with a ruling expected on July 20th.

Schettino’s lawyers at the trial, which resumed today in the town of Grosseto on Italy’s west coast after a delay due to a lawyers’ strike earlier this month, said he was not the only one to blame for the disaster.

“He has never shied away from his responsibilities. But it is only fair that he is treated justly,” another defence lawyer, Francesco Pepe, told reporters outside the courthouse.

“He was the captain, it is right that for certain things he should be the point of reference. But it is not right to blame him for responsibilities that he did not have,” he added.

Schettino (52) is accused of abandoning ship before all crew and passengers had been rescued.

His lawyers argue that he prevented an even worse disaster by steering the 290 metre (950 foot) vessel into shallow waters after the impact and that he was thrown overboard due to the angle of the leaning ship.

“We expect that right from the first we will finally get to the bottom of things and finally understand what really happened that night,” Mr Pepe said.

The trial began on July 9th but was immediately suspended because lawyers involved were taking part in a nationwide strike against measures to streamline civil trials.

Agencies