BARI – The investigation into the child prostitution ring conducted by the Bari prosecutor’s office lands before the Court of Review.
On Monday, the request to revoke the house arrest to which the Lecce businessman Fabio Carlino, 47, is subjected, accused of having paid sexual encounters with a minor, will be discussed. During the warrant interrogation the suspect made use of the right not to answer: for this reason it is plausible to believe that the defence, represented by the lawyer Alessandro Stomeo, will aim to demonstrate the non-existence of precautionary requirements, in light of the time that has elapsed with respect to the facts under dispute (the meetings date back to January 2022) and on the basis of the fact that Carlino currently resides in Rome, while the alleged victims in Bari.
The Lecce lawyer Stefano Chiriatti, 56 years old (defended by Luigi Covella), also filed an appeal with the Court of Review, accused of having participated in a meeting with two underage girls in a well-known hotel in the center of Bari together with Carlino: for him the investigating judge Giuseppe Ronzino has ordered the obligation to reside in the municipality of residence.
Elisabetta Manzari (lawyer Nicolò Nono Dachille), in prison on the most serious charge of exploitation of prostitution, is also asking for revocation. According to the complaints, the woman limited herself to answering customers’ phone calls or accompanying the girls and was then remunerated – according to what was reported by them – with 25 or 35 euros.
Nicola Basile, a 25-year-old from Bari (defended by the lawyer Marco Vignola), accused of exploitation of prostitution against two underage girls, once again asked to be heard by the public prosecutor Matteo Soave. The boy, a long-time friend of one of the two girls, admitted having had relations with the young woman before she became an adult but outside of a context of prostitution: they were consensual relations – he declared during the interrogation – occurred within the context of a, so to speak, “open relationship”. The young man, however, firmly denied the accusation of being involved in prostitution.
The investigation was triggered by the complaint of the girl’s mother, daughter of a policeman, after realizing that the young woman was hiding something.
When heard on record, the minor admitted to having prostituted herself in some bed & breakfasts in Bari and the province.
«I didn’t buy clothes or bags so as not to attract attention – he declared – the money was used to go to discos, or to dine in luxury restaurants».
According to the prosecution, the girl was introduced to the world of prostitution by her long-time friend, Antonella Albanese (defended by the lawyer Nicola Lerario), who first ended up in prison and then under house arrest as the mother of a child of only seven months. Marilena Lopez (lawyer Dario Paiano) would also have had the same role, accused of having organized meetings with clients and of having divided the money earned by the latter with the girls.
In the investigation papers, we read how both Albanese and Lopez would have “initiated the 17 year old”, for the first time in a bed & breakfast in Viale della Repubblica: on that occasion – despite not having complete relationships with the client of turn – he would have received 100 euros. «From that day – she said – I began to hang out with the girls with whom we went around the B&Bs and I also began to have relationships on my own».
