BRESCIA - A Munich court has approved the arrest, requested by Brescia prosecutors, of Patrick Alexander Kassen, the German tourist accused of the manslaughter of two Italians on Lake Garda. Kassen and his friend, both 52, drove their speed boat, travelling four times over the speed limit, into a small boat carrying two Italian day trippers, Umberto Garzarella and Greta Nedrotti, on June 19. Kassen, the one driving, was believed to be heavily drunk at the time.

  He was arrested in Brenner, South Tyrol, having fled to Germany after the accident, while returning with a lawyer to Italy. He is being held in the Neri Fischione prison.

  The Brescia prosecutors had requested a European arrest warrant while Kassen was still in Germany, simultaneously activating a collaboration with Eurojust, an EU agency dealing with judicial co-operation, and international police.

  From when the investigations first started, "Kassen's overt state of drunkenness was noted," thanks to "video documentation and health certificates that leave no space for doubt."

  Kassen's speed was calculated to have been around 20 knots (four times the limit of that area of the lake), thanks to on-site simulations carried out by the Italian Coast Guard at night.

  "My client decided to hand himself over voluntarily to the Italian authorities without waiting for the decision of the Munich court," said Guido Sola, Patrick Kassen's lawyer. "I warned the Carabinieri of the will of my client and we met at the Brennero from where they escorted us to Brescia... From the first moment he reiterated that he had not fled to Germany and that he wanted to defend himself in the trial with his lawyer and technical consultants."

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