BARI – “I’ll starve you to death” and after insulting her and threatening to kill her, he threw objects at her, punched her in the stomach, and squeezed her throat. For almost forty years, a violent husband allegedly mistreated his wife, insulting her and beating her until she, after the last violent attack, decided to report it.
For the man, a 65-year-old from the province of Bari, the Court of Appeal confirmed the conviction for mistreatment and personal injury, while reducing – by granting generic mitigating circumstances – the sentence imposed from 3 years and 2 months to 2 years, one month and ten days of imprisonment.
The two, who were the same age, had married in 1983, when she was just 23. A few months later, the abuse began, “with a series of acts harmful to her physical and moral integrity – the indictment reconstructs – subjecting her to a harassing and violent lifestyle, so as to make family relationships habitually painful and mortifying”. In particular, he “systematically attacked her both verbally”, with expressions such as “you’re ugly, you’re deficient, ignorant, you’re worthless, I’ll starve you to death… without me, you’re worthless, crazy, sick, you have to go wash the doors, you have to go pound the pavements”. And then also physically, hitting her with punches to the stomach and hips and hitting her in the throat, in addition to throwing objects and furniture.
The latest episode, the epilogue of years of harassment, 37 years after the first attack, dates back to an October evening in 2021. The accused allegedly hit his wife with a punch in the stomach and subsequently grabbed her with both hands at her throat, squeezing her tightly and threatening her with the words “I have to strangle you”. That evening she allegedly caused her personal injuries (epigastralgia from emotional stress and blunt trauma to the neck). At that point the woman, tired and worn out by decades of violence within the home, found the courage to first turn to a doctor for treatment after yet another attack and then to ask the police for help.
In the criminal proceedings the woman was assisted by the lawyer Laura Bellanova. The Gens Nova association with the lawyer Anna de Tommaso is also a civil party. In January 2023, the first degree sentence arrived, sentencing the man to 3 years and 2 months in prison and to compensate his now ex-wife, with a provisional amount of 10 thousand euros. The appeal process concluded in recent days with confirmation of the recognition of responsibility for the mistreatment and injuries (however reduced sentence), and confirmation of the civil rulings with an order to pay legal costs.
