Two Germans race across Lake Garda in a luxury motorboat on a June night. They ram a wooden boat, two Italians die. The trial is now beginning in Brescia.
Brescia – Death comes in the night, with plenty of horsepower. Greta Nedrotti and Umberto Garzarella are just looking at the stars over Lake Garda, a little later they are dead.
According to the investigation, two Germans raced across the water in a motorboat and crashed into the Italian couple’s wooden boat. While Umberto (37) died immediately and Greta (25), thrown overboard, drowned, the Munich team drove to Salò and moored there. A surveillance camera filmed one of them plopping into the water and stumbling away.
Some details of this terrible Saturday evening on June 19th have already leaked to the media in the past few months. From this Wednesday onwards, the events will be heard in a criminal trial in Brescia. The public prosecutor accuses the two German friends of negligent homicide and failure to provide assistance.
“It’s indescribable, not even animals behave like that,” Greta Nedrotti’s father complained about the Germans in a TV interview shortly after the accident. At that time, the tourists were allowed to go back to Bavaria, which caused outrage in Italy.
One of the Germans stands at the burner
When a European arrest warrant was issued, one of the two – the alleged driver that evening – turned himself in to the police in a night-and-fog operation at the Brenner Pass. He was placed in custody and then under house arrest.
Unlike his buddy – probably the owner of the luxury motorboat from the prestigious Riva brand – he will appear in court at the start of the trial, the defense lawyers announced this week. It remains to be seen whether he will also make a statement. At first the Tribunale di Brescia has to deal with organizational issues. The evidence seems unequivocal, in which case the main proceedings begin immediately. In Italy, which is known for extremely long trials, a verdict could therefore be reached quickly.
Relatives of the victims are also expected in hearing room 25. You meet one of the two Germans for the first time. According to Raimondo Dal Dosso, lawyer for the Garzarella family, an agreement was recently reached on compensation for the families. He did not reveal how much a German insurance company pays. The bereaved would withdraw as co-plaintiffs.
Investigators had already been able to reconstruct a lot from the night of death: According to testimony from witnesses – including in the media – the Germans set off in the boat late in the evening after visiting a restaurant in San Felice del Benaco. A surveillance camera showed the Riva – which can be equipped with engines with hundreds of horsepower – sped through the night.
Munich drove at four times the speed
The boat had forbidden the bright front lights, which restricted the view of the surroundings. Experts calculated that the people of Munich were traveling at four times the permitted speed.
At 11:24 p.m. the fatal crash occurred in front of the small town of Portese: A small, weak point can be seen on the video images, the boat of the Italian couple. Then a large, glaring point quickly approaches. In the event of an impact, the motorboat takes off, but does not brake afterwards.
According to media reports, the Germans said when the police were questioned that they had assumed it was driftwood.
Greta wanted to meet Umberto and then go to a party, her mother told the “Bild” newspaper in August. During the night she tried in vain to contact her daughter. Only that morning did a fisherman discover Umberto dead in the boat. Divers found Greta at the bottom of the lake at a depth of almost 100 meters.
At first it was suspected that the young woman could have been helped if the two Germans had turned around after the impact. According to media reports, a coroner later found that Greta would have died from her injuries in any case. dpa