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.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
