He achieved his third escape from psychiatry in less than a week on Sunday. Before that, he had fled on both Tuesday and Friday. However, for Famakan Traore, a 25-year-old originally from Mali, this was (with high probability) the last escape from hospital. Because the investigating judge Janos Barlotti, after having validated the police arrest also for resistance as requested by the prosecutor Francesco Coco, yesterday ordered that the boy be brought back to house arrest in the ward: but guarded by the Penitentiary. Two elements pushed towards this decision: the high probability – if not the certainty – that the 25-year-old would try to escape again if not adequately monitored. And the possibility that the boy will once again endanger public safety: exactly as happened when on 16 April last he set fire to the petrol station in Piazza Caduti sul Lavoro, on the corner of Via Trieste and Via Gulli, using the fuel sprayed with one of the nozzles and a lighter. Only to then tell at the validation hearing that it was the carabinieri who appeared to him in a dream to tell him to carry out that ambush. This time the 25-year-old – defended by the lawyer Guido Pirazzoli – said that he doesn’t like police control and that he feels annoyed by the hospital medicines: “I understand that I can’t go out whenever I want, but I feel bad there – he added – in prison, however, I feel good”. Upon his arrival in Italy, he said: “I came to play football but they haven’t given me shoes yet.”
In any case, it is truly singular – as the officers pointed out – that despite having been sedated and undergoing treatment for days, he had not lost his strength and had actually shown considerable enthusiasm. The intervention dates back to around 5pm: at that time two police officers approached the psychiatry department because the 25-year-old had once again expressed his intention to leave. And it matters little if a security guard and health workers tried to hold him back: the young man continued with kicks and punches until the police station workers stopped him. Already on Saturday morning he had expressed his intention to leave, going so far as to say: “I’ll kill you all”. Ultimately, only house arrest would be inadequate for him: this requires the presence of the Penitentiary. All in anticipation of a psychiatric evaluation that perhaps returns the boy to a program appropriate to his case.
Andrea Colombari
