ZAGREB, May 9, 2018 – The Zadar County Court’s Appeals Chamber has quashed the acquittal of businessman Tomislav Horvatinčić over a fatal maritime accident and he will be retried before a new panel of judges.
The Appeals Chamber has said that judge Maja Šupe committed major breaches of the penal code last October as the reasons for the acquittal were significantly contradictory, which was why the Chamber could not examine the verdict, and that especially contradictory was her acceptance of syncope, a temporary loss of consciousness, as the reason to acquit Horvatinčić of killing the Italian married couple Salpietro, Jutarnji List daily said on its website.
Horvatinčić was acquitted by the Šibenik Municipal Court panel of judges presided by Šupe. The verdict was appealed by local prosecutor Irena Senečić, citing errors of fact.
The accident occurred near Primošten on 6 August 2011 when Horvatinčić, going at 26.3 knots in his speedboat, hit the sailboat of Francesco and Marinella Salpietro from Padua, killing them.
This was not the first accident which Horvatinčić caused.
