The son of a top Italian film
director who ran over and killed two 16-year-old Roman girls
last month told a judge Thursday he was "devastated" by the
incident.
Paolo Genovese's son Pietro, 20, told the preliminary
hearings judge that "I am shocked and devastated at what
happened", according to his defence lawyers.
Attorneys Franco Coppi and Gianluca Tognozzi said "this is a
tragedy for all three families involved.
"Genovese is not the killer he has been described as and he
deserves respect and sympathy, like the families of these two
girls.
"Our client answered the (judge's) questions.
"We have yet to file a plea to ease his detention. We will
think about an appeal to the detention review court".
Pietro Genovese is under house arrest on suspicion of
vehicular homicide in the deaths of Gaia Von Freymann and
Camilla Romagnoli.
Investigators are using surveillance footage from the site of
the crash to help determine what happened.
Pietro Genovese is currently under house arrest.
The girls are thought to have tried to cross the very busy
road near the upscale Parioli district despite the
pedestrian-crossing light being red.
The young man reportedly tested positive for alcohol, but
early reports that he also tested positive for drugs were said
to be unfounded.
A prosecutor said he was driving too fast, at about 80 km an
hour.
But the girls were also said to have been "rash" in trying to
cross the busy road.
The case has shocked Italy.
A Rome church was full of classmates and friends and
relatives of the two girls at their funeral last week.
"Sixteen is too young to die," one of the relatives told
reporters.
Autopsy results Monday showed Genovese's car caved in the
girls' skulls, killing them instantly.
Other fractures were found, but no sign of their being hit or
dragged by other vehicles, contradicting eye witness reports.
Rome-born director and screenwriter Paolo Genovese, 53, got
an economic degree from Rome university before starting his
career at McCann Erickson, directing over one hundred
commercials and winning several awards.
In 1998 he started collaborating with Luca Miniero co-writing
and co-directing the short film La scoperta di Walter; the duo
made their feature film debut in 2002, with the critical
acclaimed comedy film A Neapolitan Spell.
Genovese made his solo-directing debut in 2010 with the La
banda dei Babbi Natale (The Father Christmas Gang).
In 2016, his film Perfect Strangers won the Best Screenplay
in an International Narrative Feature Film Award at the Tribeca
Film Festival, and was awarded best film at the David di
Donatello Awards, Italy's Oscars.
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