Anica Djerdje Dilber, who was with businessman Tomislav Horvatincic on his yacht when it crashed into another boat, killing an Italian married couple that was aboard, in the Primosten archipelago on August 16, told a Zagreb County Court investigating judge on Tuesday that at the moment of the collision Horvatincic was at the steering wheel of his vessel and she was near him.
Djerdje Dilber was questioned by Judge Vera Polak Presecki at the request of the County Court in the coastal city of Sibenik which is in charge of the investigation into Horvatincic.
Djerdje Dilber would not answer reporters' questions as she was leaving the court, but defence attorneys for Horvatincic said she told the investigating judge that Horvatincic had been at the steering wheel at the moment of the crash and that she had been by his side.
The judge questioned today four other witnesses, including members of Djerdje Dilber's family whom she had phoned after the accident which occurred near the isle of Maslinovik and in which the Italian couple Francesco and Marinelda Salpietro were killed.
Four more witnesses will be heard on Wednesday - three are from Horvatincic's Hoto Group company and the fourth is Davor Jelavic, head of the Zagreb city department for physical planning whom Horvatincic reportedly called right after the accident.
Horvatincic's lawyers expect their client will be released from custody after tomorrow's hearing, saying there will no longer exist the danger of his tampering with witnesses, which was the reason for his detention.
However, the attorney for the family of the Italian couple, Anamari Laskarin of Rijeka, recently requested that Horvatincic be kept behind bars for frequent traffic offences as evidenced by a police report showing that in the last ten years the controversial businessman had committed about 30 traffic offences, mainly by speeding.
