THE PROSECUTION proceedings against Friedrich Vernarelli, the 32-year-old Italian accused of the manslaughter of Irish women Marie Collins and Elizabeth Gubbins in a hit-and-run driving incident in Rome last March, resumed in Rome yesterday for a technical sitting at which Judge Anna Maria Pazienza ruled on the admissibility of trial witnesses.
After a two-hour hearing, the judge adjourned the case until December 19th.
Ms Collins (28) and Ms Gubbins (27) were killed on St Patrick's night at a pedestrian crossing on the Lungotevere road in central Rome. The two women were on their way back to their hotel when they were struck by a Mercedes car, travelling at high speed and allegedly driven by Mr Vernarelli.
Stopped by police shortly after the incident, when high-speed driving had seen him crash into a traffic sign and some parked cars two kilometres up river, Mr Vernarelli was initially put under house arrest.
He was subsequently imprisoned for more than five months, released early in September prior to the first hearing of his trial.
It is expected that the public prosecutor will charge Mr Vernarelli on at least three counts - manslaughter, drunken driving and failure to stop. Media reports at the time of the incident claimed that a breathalyser test had revealed Mr Vernarelli's alcohol content to be 4½ times above the Italian legal limit.
Initially, Mr Vernarelli appeared to admit his guilt, saying that he wanted "to pay" for his "crimes" whilst his lawyers indicated last April that he was willing to go to prison. In August, however, Mr Vernarelli's father, Roberto, held a news conference in which he claimed that his son had not been driving the car at the time of the incident.
Roberto Vernarelli, a retired policeman, a prominent local politician and member of the right-wing La Destra party, claimed that the car had in fact been driven by either Zsolt Balogh or Andras Korzma, two Hungarians known to his son and whom Mr Vernarelli jnr had given a lift to.
Mr Vernarelli snr furthermore said that the prosecution witness 25-year-old Manuel Ritz from the US, who claims to have witnessed the incident, had already provided sworn testimony in which he states that Friedrich Vernarelli was not driving the car.
All three, Mr Balogh, Mr Korzma and Mr Ritz, were admitted as defence witnesses by the judge yesterday.
Lawyers Ginevra Bajno and Paolo Carugo, acting for the Collins and Gubbins families, expressed satisfaction that members of both families were also admitted as trial witnesses yesterday since their testimony with regard to the emotional and psychological impact of the tragedy may prove fundamental to any decision the court takes on awarding damages.
It is believed the defence will argue that Mr Vernarelli, who was in court yesterday, was a passenger in the car at the time of the incident and that he was so drunk he can recall nothing of the crash.
The defence will almost certainly claim that his initial admission of guilt was due to his confused state and that Mr Vernarelli's first realisation of the enormity of what had happened came in the police station at 5am when a policeman withdrew his driving licence, telling him: "You've just killed two people, Vernarelli."
If found guilty, Mr Vernarelli could receive a prison sentence of up to 12 years. Speaking to reporters during yesterday's hearing, Mr Vernarelli confirmed that although he remains under house arrest, he has resumed work for three hours in the afternoon at his BB establishment in Rome.