SANTA MARINELLA – The babysitter from Alatri who had custody of the two and a half year old child who drowned on the seaside of Santa Severa has agreed to a twelve-month prison sentence with the conditional suspension of the sentence. The 50-year-old, defended by the lawyer Angelo Testa, had been accused of failing to take care of little Francesco, who accidentally fell into the water and drowned. In addition to the babysitter, the list of suspects also included the lifeguard of the bathing establishment, a 28-year-old resident of Civitavecchia, who was instead sent to trial.
It was July 6, 2022 when little Francesco, taking advantage of a few moments of distraction from the babysitter, moved away from under the umbrella and headed towards the shore. In a few minutes the tragedy occurred.
According to the babysitter’s testimony, everything would have happened in a few moments; the woman would have been distracted for a few minutes because she was sending a video of the little one while she was playing in the sand, to the child’s mother, then she would have bent down to take the little one’s toys.
The woman, a trusted person of the child’s parents, had custody of both Francesco, who would have turned three in November, and his 4-year-old sister. The father and mother, of Ciociaria origin but residing in Rome, were at work waiting to meet up with their children in the evening. The babysitter would have left for a few moments, but that was enough for Francesco to head alone towards the sea, where he fell and drowned without anyone noticing anything. When the woman didn’t see him she raised the alarm, but it was too late.
The manager of the plant found the small river in the shallow water, a few meters from the shoreline, and there was nothing left to do: the air ambulance flight to the Bambino Gesù hospital in Palidoro was useless.
In the days following the event, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Civitavecchia had registered the lifeguard of the bathing establishment where the child had drowned and his babysitter on the register of suspects.
The babysitter had asked for a plea deal in July last year.
PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE A suspect simply means a person against whom preliminary investigations are carried out in a criminal proceeding. In the Italian criminal system the presumption of innocence applies until the final sentence. The presumption of innocence is based on Article 27 of the Italian Constitution according to which a person “is not considered guilty until finally convicted”.
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