Stalking. This is the accusation for a 59-year-old from Catania who, after the investigative activity carried out by the Carabinieri of the Ognina station, was notified of the prohibition of approaching the places usually frequented by the offended person, a 41-year-old woman, with the further application of the electronic bracelet with the prescription to maintain a distance of no less than 500 meters both from the places and from the victim.
The woman, after a long romantic relationship with the suspect, which lasted over 18 years, during which the birth of her daughters occurred, decided to end the cohabitation relationship in April 2024.
This decision, however, would not have been accepted by the suspect who, instead, would have started to threaten the 41-year-old, knowing all her habits, from the places she frequented to all her friendships.
The investigations, coordinated by the pool of qualified magistrates on crimes concerning gender violence, in a stage of the proceedings in which the cross-examination with the suspect has not yet taken place, have examined repeated and invasive harassing conduct, carried out by the man, aimed at undermining the serenity of the victim, a 41-year-old woman from Catania.
Messages and threats
On several occasions the man allegedly threatened the woman through messages: “my life is over now, if you are not mine you will not belong to anyone. If you’re not mine you better die. I am sick and before I leave I will take someone with me” and tormented with numerous phone calls, text messages and e-mail messages, even at night with the same content. Furthermore, she allegedly harassed her by lurking repeatedly in front of her workplace, in order to convince her to restart her romantic relationship with him, even stalking her while she returned home with a colleague, bombarding him with threats.
Violence even in the presence of minor children
The violence would then also have occurred in the presence of the minor children and on the public street. The woman would have been insulted and pulled by the hair.
And again, he allegedly sent messages via his minor daughter’s phone, threatening his ex-partner by telling her that he would wait for her outside the house and that he would “throw the car on her and do crazy things”. On one occasion, in an escalation of violence, she also allegedly beat one of her minor daughters with kicks and punches who intervened to defend her mother.
The telephone threats and continuous phone calls combined with episodes of physical violence would have generated a continuous state of anxiety and fear in the victim which, combined with a well-founded fear for her safety, would have forced the woman to change her lifestyle habits, such as limiting herself from leaving the house alone, as she feared further raids by the man.
Measure carried out by the police
The behavior of the suspect reported by the military personnel of the Arma to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, led the PM to request the issuing of an adequate precautionary measure to the Judge for Preliminary Investigations who decided to adopt the precautionary measure deemed, at the time, most suitable, the prohibition of approach with an electronic bracelet, finally carried out by the Carabinieri of the Catania “Ognina” station.
