The line of defense is recurrent in rape trials, in which the victim had initially consented and ends up being presented as guilty of provoking her tormentors. It is a classic that seems to repeat itself in the tragic story lived by Francesca (fictitious name), the 19-year-old girl from Palermo who denounced having been raped, on July 6 at dawn, by seven boys with whom she had spent a few hours in a club .
The seven men, between the ages of 17 and 22, who are being questioned by the judge in charge of the case, are accused of having sexually abused the woman, who, while drunk, was taken to an isolated area in the center of the city. (it is the image that illustrates the news) and raped by turns. A group violence that was recorded with a mobile phone and that ended up in the hands of the police. A violent and dramatic film, crucial for the investigation, which is also arousing morbid curiosity: there are dozens of users on the hunt for these images on Telegram.
Three of the suspects admitted that they had been with the girl the night of the abuse but denied the violence. Francesca, they told the magistrate, consented. A line shared by other suspects, with small differences in the description of what happened. Angelo Flores, the young acquaintance of the victim, who allegedly contacted her through Instagram and invited her to meet with her group, said that he had “simply” filmed her rape. Gabriele Di Trapani, 20, went a little further and acknowledged that he had had relations with the young woman, specifying, however, that she had guessed his intentions from the beginning, to the point that she had asked him not to go through in front of the bar where her boyfriend worked to avoid him seeing them.
However, the strategy of admitting what cannot be denied and denying everything else did not bear fruit: the review court rejected the request for the release of both men. It was better, however, for the youngest of the band, who just a few days ago turned 18. Recorded on video and considered by prosecutors the most violent of the seven, he spoke of the victim’s provocative attitude, even saying that it was she who had invited him to have sex. A defense in which the judge saw flashes of regret, to the point of revoking his preventive detention. The decision, however, did not please the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office, which announced its intention to appeal the measure, nor the prison police union: “An example of impunity.”
“I swear that after she felt bad, she lay down on the ground, called the ambulance, we left her there and we left. She wanted to do it to everyone, in the end we complied with the whim'”, “I hurt her, she didn’t want to , he said ‘no, stop’…. The punches they gave him and also the slaps, he was not breathing”. “These are just some passages of the terrifying story collected by the press. Italian government, Matteo Salvini, who has requested this Monday, “prison and chemical castration” for “rapists and pedophiles”, reports the Efe agency, after echoing some of the phrases of the defendants that these days have been disclosed by the media .
The Vice President of the Government headed by the far-right Giorgia Meloni added that “the League has presented the bill on the chemical castration of rapists and we are moving forward with it. Without delay.”
And while for days public opinion has been calling for exemplary punishment, even going so far as to publish the photos of the seven boys on social networks. Singer Ermal Meta has called for the suspects to “end up in jail under 100 wolves.”
Meanwhile, the judicial process continues. Today the court is scheduled to rule on the request for the release of the fourth alleged rapist, Cristian Barone, who has remained silent. And also today the last three detainees must be questioned: Samuele La Grassa, Elio Arnao and Christian Maronia. His role in the affair only came to light after several weeks of investigation. In particular, Maronia, who had to change lawyers due to the resignation of the former’s mandate, will have to clarify an intercepted sentence: “She didn’t want to, she said:” it’s not enough “, he commented with an accomplice heard by the Carabinieri micros .
What the defense of the seven will not be able to question, however, is the reliability of Francesca, defined as ‘fit to testify’ in an expert opinion presented with the investigation documents. The girl, who has a complicated family history behind her, has been described as a person “who silences anguish by depriving experiences of their emotional trait if they are traumatic”, is, according to the expert commissioned by the prosecution, someone fully qualified to tell what happened
