Italian gets 7 years for killing Irish women

A 33-YEAR-OLD Italian man has been sentenced to seven years in prison and ordered to pay €1 million in compensation after he was convicted of knocking down and killing two young Irish women in Rome before fleeing the scene.

Friedrich Vernarelli, who was the owner of the car involved in the incident, had claimed that he was not driving at the time of the accident. He was convicted of manslaughter, driving while drunk and leaving the scene of the crash.

Elizabeth Gubbins of Limerick and Mary Collins of Kildare were killed on March 18 last year after celebrating St Patrick’s Day in Rome. They were crossing a road on Lungotevere Altoviti, near Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome.