Court of Appeal quashes conviction of coach accused of pedophilia

TRIESTE, 16 MAY – The Court of Appeal of Trieste has annulled, due to procedural defects, the ten-year sentence imposed at first instance on a former youth football coach accused of sexual assault on some minors. After approximately three and a half years of detention, since the Flying Squad of the Trieste Police Headquarters arrested him, the man is released. The local press reports it. According to the accusation, the harassment occurred several times during pre-match football training camps, in the changing rooms and in the car, on the occasions in which the man had accompanied some of the children home. The deputy general prosecutor, Carlo Sciavicco, had requested confirmation of the first instance sentence. The documents of the trial will have to be sent to the Prosecutor’s Office which will have to prepare a new trial. The former coach’s house arrest has been revoked and he will therefore be released. The 51-year-old man, former coach of a well-known Trieste football club, was arrested in January 2021 by agents of the Flying Squad who had carried out a precautionary custody order issued by the investigating judge of the Court of Trieste. He was then sentenced to 10 years in prison in March 2023. (ANSA).