If Mr. Schettino was ever sorry that he killed 30 people and sunk a multimillion dollar ship, he sure knows how to hide it.
Coming to court with a hand stitched pin stripe suit, with the somber and somewhat arrogant air of someone who thinks himself superior in some way, Schettino sits at the proceedings with a forlorn look of disgust, as if he were missing some important show or date he was forcibly made to forgo. His tan, as always, is impeccable.
He looks as if he is being unjustly crucified, sulking at the defendant's table, flanked by serious lawyers.
Interestingly enough, he tells Spiegel Online, that he "wants to understand what really happened." Fateful words from someone who is supposed to be at the helm of a ship that ran aground after a foolish 'salute' maneuver. He then adds, somewhat professorially "I want to do my part to ensure that the shipping industry learns from such disasters." Now, suddenly, he's a benefactor of some sort.
Schettino seems to have a woefully short memory: it was by his orders to 'salute' the Giglio Island, thereby deviating from the iron clad rules not to approach the island which sits on a platform of rocks that jut out in the sea for almost a mile, but also to navigate the enormous vessel through a narrow, shallow strait that maimed and almost sunk the ship. To cap it off, he was one of the first to abandon ship, a dereliction of duty that defies not only his profession but any moral code a human being could possess. Of course his defense lawyers contend he didn't abandon the ship, but merely 'fell accidentally' into one of the lifeboats. Which of course is ludicrous, since he could have gotten out of it and back into the ship.
The ship was loaded with 4,200 passengers. Had the ship slipped from its stony ledge before the passengers had finally escaped, a massacre would have ensued.
There are many in Italy who have come to his defense. There are those who cite Costa's unsavory habit of undermanning and undertraining its employees. But Schettino was not one of them. He was a top dog, top pay employee, who should have never disregarded the strict rules of navigation imposed on the vessels that wade through the shallow waters off of Giglio Island.
Schettino, if convicted, could face 20 years in prison.
His lover at the time, with which some have rumored he was having sex while the ship was being manned by a subordinate, is standing by her man. The Moldovan beauty insists that there are many others who are guilty, and that her man is being made the scapegoat of the case.
Someone ought to translate the phrase "the buck stops here" for the willowy dancer. That's what a captain's burden is.
Op-Ed
Partial Source : Spiegel Online/ 7.18.13
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