Younger Sicilian girl killed in broad daylight by stalker

The homicide of a younger Sicilian girl by a stalker in broad daylight has despatched shockwaves throughout Italy, the place 11 ladies have been killed because the begin of the yr.

College scholar Sara Campanella, 22, was killed by an acquaintance on Monday afternoon within the Sicilian metropolis of Messina.

Witnesses instructed media that they noticed a person – later recognized by prosecutors as 27-year-old Stefano Argentino – stroll as much as Ms Campanella and stab her on the road. She tried to get away and screamed “Cease it, let me go, cease it,” earlier than collapsing, they mentioned.

A passer-by who reportedly heard Ms Campanella’s screams tried to chase the attacker, who managed to flee.

Ms Campanella died on her approach to the hospital. Mr Argentino was arrested just a few hours later within the close by city of Noto.

Raffaele Leone, Mr Argentino’s lawyer, instructed Italian media on Wednesday that his shopper had admitted the fees towards him, however had not defined why he had attacked her.

“I can not say if he is remorseful, he is fairly closed up,” Mr Leone was quoted by Ansa information company as saying.

The Messina prosecutor, Antonio D’Amato, mentioned that Stefano Argentino had “insistently and repeatedly” harassed Sara Campanella since she began college two years in the past. She was learning to turn out to be a biomedical technician.

One in all her pals as soon as needed to intervene when Mr Argentino stored complaining that Ms Campanella now not smiled at him, Mr D’Amato mentioned.

However he added that Ms Campanella by no means went to the police as she didn’t really feel that Mr Argentino’s attentions have been notably “threatening or pathological”.

Within the police detention order quoted by Italian media, prosecutors mentioned that Mr Argentino had been “often pestering the sufferer, asking her to exit with him and get to know one another higher, and refusing to again down even when she would flip him down”.

Mr D’Amato mentioned that, shortly earlier than being stabbed, Ms Campanella despatched a message to some pals, telling them that “that sick man is following me”.

Writing on Fb, Ms Campanella’s mom mentioned that her daughter “bravely thought her ‘No’ could be sufficient as a result of [Stefano Argentino] meant nothing to her, they weren’t collectively, she simply wished him to go away her alone, she wished to dwell and dream and graduate.

“You at all times want to talk up and go to the police! Assist me give Sara a voice,” she mentioned.

In an emotional interview to Italian TV, Ms Campanella’s brother mentioned that unrequited love or consideration may by no means be a cause for “act like this one”.

“There aren’t any justifications, and somebody like him does not even deserve phrases.”

The daddy of Giulia Cecchettin, who was additionally 22 when she was killed by her ex-boyfriend, instructed Italian newspaper La Repubblica that there are “complete generations of males who do not settle for rejection”.

“Love will not be possession, jealousy will not be love, and saying ‘No’ is a proper. In Sara’s case there hadn’t even been a relationship,” Mr Cecchettin mentioned.

“Girls proceed to be killed by those that do not settle for their rejection. We have to make a unprecedented effort, a collective act of riot… towards this tradition of loss of life,” mentioned Mara Carfagna, a former minister and lawmaker.

The problem of violence towards ladies is keenly felt in Italy, the place femicides are regularly reported by the media. Final month alone, 4 ladies died by the hands of their companions or ex-partners.

On Wednesday, lower than 48 hours after her loss of life, Sara Campanella’s homicide was pushed out of the headlines by information that the physique of 22-year-old Ilaria Sula had been present in a suitcase in Rome.

The college scholar had gone lacking final week. In line with Italian media, her ex-boyfriend has confessed to her homicide.