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Not an accident, but a murder. According to the investigating judge of Bologna Domenico Truppa, when last May 16th Sofia Stefani she entered a room at the local police headquarters in Anzola Emilia together with Giampiero Gualandi, “he already had murder in mind.” As reported by Today.it, according to the reconstruction of the judge who ordered prison for the 63-year-old on charges of voluntary homicide aggravated by futile motives and the sentimental bond with the victim, there would have been an argument between the two which culminated in the shot “An argument would have started between the two and the former traffic policewoman would have insisted on continuing the relationship. Then, Gualandi, exasperated, took up the gun, pointed it at the woman and pulled the trigger. Then, aware of what he had fact and having to give an alternative version, he takes action to call 118 and simulate a tragic fatality”.
The investigating judge: “Gualandi had murder in mind”
What happened in that room? For the judge, according to the reconstruction carried out “on the basis of the documents available”, it was not an accident, a gunshot fired by mistake, as instead claimed by the suspect during the interrogation. Again according to the investigating judge, the Last May 16th Gualandi went to the office well aware that he would meet his former colleague, almost 30 years younger, who did not agree to end the extramarital relationship that the two had established. That morning Gualandi collected the weapon from the armory and recovered the box for cleaning, then found it on the desk, to prepare a line of defense as to the reason for the presence of the gun.
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The investigating judge Domenico Truppa, who decided on custody in prison, accepting the prosecutor’s request Stefano Dambruoso, describes Giampiero Gualandi as an individual with a marked social danger: “The use of the weapon against a subject who was unarmed expresses a particular lack of control and awareness of the absolute incongruity of one’s conduct. The disturbing executive methods of the criminal action implemented by Gualandi (which denote uncommon coldness and disarming ease of resorting to the use of a lethal weapon) leave no doubt about the existence of the concrete and current danger of recurrence of facts similar to those that we are proceeding with.”
The exchange of messages
The investigations brought to light the messages that Giampiero Gualandi and Sofia Stefani exchanged up to two days before the crime. “He – underlined the investigating judge – was in reality a person worn out by the presence of the woman in her life. His messages were unequivocal, while Stefani’s replies had been eliminated from the chat”.
“I don’t sleep, I eat little, I’m exhausted,” the former commander wrote on May 14. And again: “I no longer have the energy to bear the pressure, anxiety, nervousness, tension… I’m exhausted, I’m leaving without saying anything to anyone, I can’t take anything anymore.” A state of mind that according to the judge was in line with the situation that had arisen between the two, with the woman not intending to end their story, so much so that it led the man to a “state of exasperation”.
An enormous pressure, which ended tragically in that office: “A tension resulted in a discussion – added the investigating judge – within which it is reasonable to believe that the man grabbed the gun and pulled the trigger to definitively close the accounts with a person who had been incessantly obsessing him for several months.” The telephone records of that day show 15 calls from Sofia Stefani to Gualandi’s number.
The autopsy, the ballistic examination and Gualandi’s appeal
Meanwhile, today’s morning, Friday 24 May, the autopsy began on the body of the 33-year-old policewoman. The Bologna prosecutor’s office has appointed Dr. Valentina Bugelli of Parma, establishing a time limit of 90 days to complete the investigations. Gualandi’s lawyer, Claudio Benenati, has appointed Dr. Guido Pelletti, of the University of Bologna, as a consultant to participate in the autopsy examination, while the lawyer Andrea Speranzoni has appointed Dr. Andrea Casolino for the victim’s family. Benenati announced that next week he will file the appeal with the Court of Review to request the annulment of the prison order or alternatively house arrest.”
Also this morning, the task was also given, in front of the deputy prosecutor Lucia Russo, to carry out ballistics consultancy, a test that could prove fundamental in clarifying the dynamics of the crime. In Gualandi’s version the shot was fired accidentally during a struggle, while the prosecutor’s office is convinced that it was a voluntary gesture. Again, it will take 90 days to know the results. And maybe the truth.
