Giovanna Cappiello suffered fatal injuries in a collision
(Picture: Gio Cappiello Facebook)An Italian police chief is receiving an apology for chronic delays in the justice system after it emerged he must wait more than four years to see his daughter’s alleged killer stand trial.
Giovanna Cappiello, a 29-year-old interior design student, suffered fatal injuries in a collision with a cement lorry as she cycled through Battersea on July 4, 2019.
Construction company boss Stephen Hempenstall, 50, was not charged with causing death by careless driving until April 2021, when his case was sent for a trial by jury. It has now emerged his trial will not now take place until October 9 next year, more than four years after the fatal crash.
Judge Benedict Kelleher sitting at Inner London crown court asked: “Is the prosecution as a whole really consenting that it should be allowed to wait that long?”
Prosecutor Hamish Common told the court: “No one is happy with this trial date, it is an unhappy compromise we have all arrived at. The father of the deceased — a chief inspector in the state police of Italy — has indicated his sadness at the delays. I will convey apologies on behalf of the criminal justice system for these delays.”
Hempenstall’s trial date could not be set when he appeared at the Old Bailey last June due to the effects of the Covid pandemic on the growing criminal backlog.
The case was transferred to Inner London and due to be tried in June next year, but it then emerged the experts due to give evidence were needed on another death by careless driving trial.
The barristers strike, in a stand-off over Legal Aid with the Government which began in April, has curbed efforts to bring down the backlog, which now stands at around 60,000 cases.
Ms Cappiello, a University of the Arts student, was two weeks away from graduating when she died. She had been the first on her course to achieve A+ grades in both theory and practice, and was also a popular staff member at the five-star Berkeley Hotel in Belgravia. Hempenstall, a director of a construction firm, remains on bail.
Paying tribute to his daughter, Mr Cappiello said: “When Giovanna arrived, the sun arrived, too.” He described how “she loved to travel to see the world and to live”.
