Italian ship captain jailed over deadly accident

Genoa (Italy), May 17 (IANS/AKI) An Italian court on Wednesday handed a 10-year prison term to the captain of a cargo ship that slammed into the port in Genoa in 2013, toppling the control tower and killing nine people and injuring four others.

Jolly Nero captain Roberto Paoloni, got 10 years and four months in jail, while the ship's first officer Lorenzo Repetto got eight years and six months, its chief engineer Franco Giamoro got seven years and Genoa port pilot Antonio Anfossi got four years and two months.

The four men were found guilty of multiple culpable homicide, causing a building collapse and endangering transport security over the May 7, 2013 accident.

There were howls of dismay in the courtroom from relatives of victims of the disaster when Giampaolo Olmetti, a director of Ignazio Messina & C. the company that owns the Jolly Nero, was acquitted.

The court ordered Ignazio Messina & C. to pay a fine of 1,050,000 euros.

Adele Chiello, the mother of Italian coastguard officer Giuseppe Tusa, who was killed in the accident condemned the "unjust" sentencing.

"The criminals are the company and its management. Olmetti is a on the board of the company. With complete responsibility for its decisions," she said.

"I and my lawyers won't stop here. There is no doubt about that. I want justice and justice has not been served," Tusa said.

Ignazio Messina & C. issued a statement claiming that Wednesday's sentencing showed the company's ships were "safe" and the Jolly Nero incident had been "wholly" due to "error while manoevering" the ship.

Prosecutors had requested jail terms of 20 years and seven months for Paoloni and 17 years for Olmetti as well as a ban from holding public office.

--IANS/AKI

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