Alessia Pifferi, the 38-year-old sentenced to life imprisonment in the first instance for starving her one-and-a-half-year-old daughter Diana to death, did not appear in court at the second hearing of the appeal trial, claiming "legitimate impediment" .
Pifferi, a prisoner in Vigevano, justified her absence with the beating she suffered in prison at the hands of other prisoners . It is not the first time that she reports an episode of this kind, in her spontaneous declarations during the first degree trial, in April 2024, she had said: «In prison the other prisoners beat me, at night they shout “monster”, “murderer”, “you must die”, “you deserve so many beatings” ».
The Court has meanwhile rejected the request of the prosecutor and the civil party to admit in the trial the documents of the second strand on the alleged manipulations of the psychiatric tests on the woman . Pifferi's lawyer, Alessia Pontenani, some psychologists and the psychiatrist Marco Garbarini, a consultant for the defense, are being investigated for forgery and aiding and abetting. According to the prosecution, the defendants allegedly manipulated the report to make Pifferi appear to be suffering from mental disorders, while according to the prosecution she has always been lucid and the report ultimately established that she was capable of understanding and willing . This is why she was sentenced to life imprisonment.
On February 10, however, the judges of the Court of Appeal of Milan ordered a new psychiatric evaluation for the woman , accepting the defense's request. The evaluation will begin on March 26 in the Vigevano prison where the woman is being held. The psychiatrists will have 90 days to complete the tests.
(Unioneonline/L)