Roundup: Concordia's captain Schettino sentenced to 16 years for 2012 shipwreck

An Italian court on Wednesday found captain of Costa Concordia ship Francesco Schettino guilty of causing the major shipwreck in which 32 people died, Italian media reported.

A panel of three judges sentenced Schettino to 16 years in jail, and ruled he should be perpetually barred from public office, according to ANSA news agency.

Schettino faced charges of manslaughter, causing shipwreck and abandoning ship during evacuation for the incident occurred off the coasts of Giglio Island on Jan. 13, 2012.

More than 4,200 people were aboard the Concordia, when the huge luxury ship hit rocks during the night and partially capsized just few hundred meters from the shore.

Schettino was at the helm of the vessel at the time and was accused of taking it too close to the coast, thus causing the incident.

Thirty-two people lost their lives in the chaotic evacuation that followed, and 157 were injured.

Both Schettino and Concordia's owner Costa Crociere Company were ordered to pay compensation to all plaintiffs, including the Giglio Island, the Italian state, and Italy's civil protection agency.

The trial had opened in July 2013 in Grosseto, Tuscany, and Schettino had remained the only defendant after four Concordia crew members and an officer of Costa Crociere reached plea bargains.

The prosecution had asked 26 years and three months in jail for the captain.

In his final statement on Tuesday, the prosecutor had said that "a tsunami of evidence against Schettino" had been presented during the trial, and the captain acted with "gross negligence".

Schettino has always denied the charges and claimed he was being made a scapegoat. According to his lawyers, the shipwreck was the result of a "collective failure" and other crew members should also be held responsible for the incident.

In a testimony given to the court in December, the captain had claimed he had not immediately ordered evacuation after the ship had hit rocks off Giglio Island to reduce the risk of dangerous behavior and to avoid panic among passengers.

Before the jury retired on Wednesday afternoon, Schettino also made a final voluntary statement and wept while addressing the judges.

"In this court a lot of words have been said to destroy my dignity, and all the responsibility has been put on me with no respect for the truth," he said.

"A part of me died on the night of the wreck," he added.

Schettino was not present in court for the reading of the verdict.

The court allowed the captain to remain free until the appeal, rejecting a request of the prosecution for his immediate arrest because of a possible risk of him fleeing the country.

In most cases, defendants in Italy remain free until the whole appeal process is completed.

The 290-meter long wreck of the Concordia was removed from Giglio Island in July 2014, and towed to the northern port of Genoa to be scrapped, after an unprecedented salvage operation that cost the owner company an estimated 1.5 billion euros (1.69 billion U.S. dollars). Endit