Assize Court of Monza, 27 June 2024 (hearing 12 April 2024), no. 2
President Dr. Carlo Ottone De Marchi, Editor Dr. Guglielo Gussoni
We would like to inform our readers, with reference to the trial for the murder of Sofia Castlesthe reasons for the sentence with which the Assize Court of Monza condemned Zakaria Atqaoui to a sentence of 24 years in prison.
From a legal point of view, the Court of Assizes held subsisting the four aggravating circumstances contested – premeditation, futile motives, insidious means and emotional relationship – and, while believing that these outlined «a particularly brutal crime», considered that the general mitigating circumstances should be considered equivalents (resulting in a 24-year prison sentence).
As for the circumstances on the basis of which to identify mitigating circumstances, the judges of the Assize Court highlighted the following aspects:
– il behavior held by the accused immediately after the crime, the same being the case immediately went to the local policeallowing the police to intervene at the home;
– the fact that this has allowed for find the victim’s body without delay«crystallizing the crime scene and allowing all the necessary investigations to be carried out immediately» (so much so that, even, a friend of the victim – who was sleeping in another room – was accompanied by the Carabinieri outside the apartment without realizing what had happened to her friend);
– the fact that the defendant «he did not intend in any way to flee and disappearhaving, indeed, immediately assumed all his responsibilitiesreconstructing the crime in all its details, including those that allowed the contestation of the aggravating circumstancestwo of which would have been difficult to prove without his account (premeditation and insidious means)»;
– the collaborative behaviour of the accused, which continued subsequently, «when he told what happened to both the PM and the GIP confessing to the murderbut also all the details that made it possible to ascertain the aggravating circumstances»;
– the collaborative behavior maintained also during the process, when, «through his lawyer, the accused has given his consent to the acquisition of all the investigation documents and has avoided, also for the injured parties and the civil parties, a long investigation and the consequent further pain of having to retrace, hearing after hearing, what happened»;
– his young age, theno criminal record and the fact that this was his «first judicial experiencea»;
– his family history, «although not explored further during the investigations, which appeared particularly disadvantaged».
On the basis of these reasons, the Court of Assizes, having recognized the mitigating circumstances equivalent to aggravating circumstancessentenced the accused to the penalty of 24 years of imprisonment (that is, the maximum penalty, in light of the brutality and of severity of the fact, «which resulted in the end of the life of a very young girl at the beginning of her university career»).
