Since November 11, 2021, negotiations have been going on in the case of the two Germans who are said to be responsible for the death of an Italian couple on Lake Garda at night. Now they are giving their version.
Brescia – In the trial of the fatal boat accident on Lake Garda in Italy, the two accused have given their statements and apologized.
On the night of June 19, they had been sailing on the lake in northern Italy towards Salò on the western shore. “I heard a noise out of the blue, a short but very audible noise, and at the same time felt a vibration in my feet,” said the boat driver on Friday in the Palazzo di Giustizia in the northern Italian city of Brescia. They would have thought they had hit a piece of driftwood.
However, their Riva motorboat had collided with the wooden boat belonging to an Italian couple. The 37-year-old Umberto Garzarella and his girlfriend Greta Nedrotti (25) lost their lives. “This short impact was so weak that I couldn’t assume in my life that we had hit something big like a boat,” the accused from Munich continued. The boat owner was tired during the night and had asked his friend to steer the boat, as he described on Friday.
“We don’t need apologies”
“I did not notice this accident as such. I’m incredibly sorry,” said the boatman. The boat owner – also from Munich – explained at the beginning of his questioning: “Even though I wasn’t awake when the accident happened, I would like to apologize for what happened there. Sorry,” he said, looking at the parents present. “We don’t need the apologies,” Nedrotti’s mother said after the trial.
Bayern have to answer for negligent homicide and failure to provide assistance. The day after the accident, the Carabinieri showed up in the hotel room of the two men from Munich. The two later traveled home. When the suspicion against the boat driver was confirmed, the Italian police wanted to bring him back into the country with a European arrest warrant. However, the suspect forestalled this and turned himself in in a night and fog operation on the Italian border in the small town of Brenner. He was later placed under house arrest.
Plenty of alcohol before the accident?
Most recently, prosecution and defense experts testified – with different views, especially as to how fast the two were traveling in their luxury boat. Eyewitnesses said in the process that the two Bavarians had drunk a lot of alcohol before the crash in the afternoon.
Particular attention was paid to the alleged order for a bottle of vodka. The boat driver testified that they never ordered the bottle. The waiter put them on the table and put some in their sorbet. This is a “trademark” in this restaurant.
A restaurant worker reported that the driver was bleeding from the mouth. The accused made it clear on Friday that it was stomach acid that he spat out. A surveillance video also circulated on the Internet last year, showing the man falling backwards into the lake when docking in the port. But that didn’t happen because he was drunk, but because of the shock when putting it on. Another hearing is scheduled for March 2nd. dpa
