“You can’t kill like that. He was skinny, small“. There is no peace Olga Cipriano, the grandmother of Thomas Christopher Luciani, the 17-year-old killed in Pescara on Sunday evening for an alleged drug debt of around 200 euros. She, a retired jeweler, had raised him”like a son” among the green countryside of Rosciano, in Valpescara. “He was a golden boy“, says the woman in an interview with La Repubblica.
“I acted as his mother”
Thomas’ life, however short, was marked by a series of traumatic events. He never met his father and his mother, of Peruvian origins, left Italy 12 years ago. “He was three and a half when I got him. I raised him, I was his mother“, tells Grandmother Olga with her voice broken by tears. She has always been there for that little boy and she never made him lack for anything, love above all else. He was there even in the darkest moments: “He had the crickets that all kids this age have. – he points out – He wasn’t a drug addict and he wasn’t a drug addict“.
“He was rebellious, but a good boy”
According to Olga’s story, there would have been no problems as long as the boy remained in Rosciano. Things would have changed”when he went to high school in Pescara“. Thomas took the bus every morning and often, after lessons, stopped in the center to eat. Then, in the afternoon, he returned home by public transport. Recently, however, he had become more restless. In November last year he ran away from home, only to show up with a message within 24 hours. Following this episode he was placed in one community protected: “But he didn’t want to stay, he tried to escape, he was rebellious“, says the woman.
Uncle: “We hoped he would come home, but that wasn’t the case”
In Rosciano there is also the Brother of Olga, who usually lives in Turin. He had returned to the Pescarese area to enjoy a few days of holiday and, instead, was overwhelmed by the tragic event. He remembers everything about Sunday evening: “Thomas had run away from the community, we hoped they would find him or that he would return home, but that didn’t happen. – tells – The police called us at night“.
Then he makes a broader reflection, also thinking of the parents of the two alleged attackers, the same age as his nephew: “Maybe they were good at home and monsters outside, I don’t know – continues Sergio – But I ask myself: how could it be that a policeman, with a watchful eye I imagine, did not notice the path his son had taken?“. It’s difficult to understand what didn’t work and what was the spark that lit the fuse: “Anyway – concludes Thomas’ grandmother – justice sooner or later comes to the surface. I hope”.
