Francesco Schettino, the captain of the wrecked Costa Concordia, appeared in court on Tuesday to answer questions regarding the sinking of the cruise ship in 2012, according to NBC News.
According to Schettino, he was performing a maneuver to impress the ship's passengers and his friends. However, he miscalculated his steering, which caused Costa Concordia to crash into the rocks of Giglio's Tuscan island.
The former captain's testimony was in response to allegations that he conducted a "salute" maneuver to impress Domnica Cemortan, a dancer who worked on the ship since she previously admitted that they were having an affair back then, Telegraph reported.
Schettino also noted that other officials of the ship should be blamed for the accident as well since he took control of Costa Concordia just minutes after it crashed into the rocks. His second in command, Ciro Ambrosia, was the one who was steering when the ship was already near the island.
Costa Concordia sunk on the evening of Jan. 13, 2012. After the vessel struck the rocks, it lost power and slowly tipped over. The incident led to the death of 32 people. The other passengers were able to survive through lifeboats, while other people aboard the ship swam to shore.
During the incident, Schettino was also seen leaving the ship on a lifeboat while the passengers were still panicking on board. He previously argued that it was not his intention to leave passengers, saying that he just tripped and fell onto a lifeboat that was leaving the ship.
However, a video played during the court session showed Schettino lining up to get to one of the vessel's lifeboats.
The prosecutor handling the case said that he is seeking a sentence of at least 20 years in prison for the former captain on grounds of manslaughter and abandoning ship. Schettino is being tried alone since the other officials of the ship previously made plea bargain deals.
