pack wants to hear from the victim again

The trial for the gang rape that took place on 7 July 2023 at the Foro Italico in Rome began this morning, 19 April. Palermo. The victim of the violence, 19 years old at the time, was not present at the preliminary hearing. The young woman, through her lawyer, Carla Garofalo, asked to become a civil party together with the Municipality and 11 associations that deal with combating gender violence. The trial takes place behind closed doors and therefore journalists cannot enter the courtroom.

The victim would have been the victim of a new attack on Easter Monday (a minor and his parents are under investigation for private violence), his lawyer confirmed. “There was also one smear campaign towards the girl – says Garofalo – which lasted all summer. Unfortunately, I only arrived in the process in January so I wasn’t able to manage and follow the previous part.”

He then clarified that the young woman he is not present in court because “he lives in a shelter and is under protection”. The lawyer also said that he assisted him “lives between ups and downs, alternating moments of anguish with moments of hope. She is picking up the pieces of all the chaos around her and sometimes she wonders who made her report the rape, given that she receives constant threats and attacks”, he reiterated, explaining how “a conflict has been created around the affair toxic climate“.

L’preliminary hearing has been postponed to April 29th. The defendants are all in prison and on video link for the hearing. Their defenders have asked for the conditional summary judgment to one new hearing of the victim, already heard by the Palermo investigating magistrate Clelia Maltese in an evidentiary incident, two months ago. Thus a discount of one third of the sentence would be provided; but if the judge does not admit it, they will have to choose whether to do the abbreviated “dry” or the ordinary.

The lawyer disputes the defense line of the suspects:

The defense aims to say that there was the consent of the young woman – adds the victim’s lawyer -. This is literature, they do it in all trials for rape. I would do it too if I were defending one, but it’s unlikely because I will never defend a rape suspect. This thesis is untenablebecause there are films that speak.”

Specifically, the defendants’ lawyers highlight how in several videos, one of which was shot in the Vucciria district, the girl could be seen paying for drinks to some young people in the group who were then invited to watch some videos on her smartphone where has sexual intercourse with other people.

In another clip, the images of the video surveillance cameras in the Foro Italico area would highlight how the young woman would have put herself at the head of the group and, despite crossing streets full of people, he would not have shown “signs of fearnor would he have asked for help”, reconstruct the lawyers. This is the reason that pushes the defense to lean towards the consensus thesis: a completely opposite version compared to that of the victim who instead always reiterated that the relationship had not been consensual and that he had also shouted “stop” at a certain point.

There defensive line actually so far he didn’t pay. For the events of last July in Palermo, the judge of the juvenile court, Maria Pino, has already sentenced the only boy in the group who was not yet of age at the time of the alleged gang rape to 8 years and 8 months. A less heavy sanctioning treatment, foreseen for minors, but still a very severe sentence.