«I was afraid to speak. I didn't say anything and he took me back to his house. For this reason I did not return home to Diana."
Alessia Pifferi speaks, the 37-year-old woman on trial before the Assize Court of Milan for the multi-aggravated voluntary homicide of her 18-month-old daughter, who died of starvation in July 2022 after being left at home alone for six days .
That week, Pifferi said when answering the prosecutor's questions, he was in the province of Bergamo with his partner. When he had to go to Milan for work two days before the discovery of the little girl's body, Pifferi had accompanied him, but without passing by the Milanese house in Via Parea where little Diana was alone.
«I was worried about my daughter - she said, - but unfortunately I was afraid of my partner's reactions. I was afraid to talk to him, he was very verbally aggressive. He even once tried to push me against the glass in an argument. I was worried about my daughter but at the same time I was afraid to ask him to take me home ." The little girl «was an obstacle for him. He said he loved her, but it wasn't true. He just used me."
When he finally reached her, after six days, «I found her in the cot – she says – I immediately went to her, I don't remember if the door was open or closed. I caressed her, but I saw that she wasn't moving and I understood that something was wrong : she wasn't standing like the other times, she wasn't playing." According to what was reconstructed from the investigations conducted by prosecutors Francesco De Tommasi and Rosaria Stagnaro, the little girl died of starvation.
«It wasn't cold. I tried to resuscitate her - Pifferi reconstructed -, I gave her a cardiac massage, I picked her up and gave her a few pats on the back. I tried wetting her hands, feet and head to see if she would recover. I put her back in the cot and also squirted some water in her mouth. I saw that he didn't recover and I went to call the neighbor ."
Responding to questions from prosecutor De Tommasi, the 37-year-old admitted that she had already left her alone on other occasions before the fatal one, when she went to the province of Bergamo to see her partner with whom she had been having an "off and on" relationship for some time: «Yes, the 'I left her alone. Very few times, I don't remember how many. I would go away and usually come straight home the next day. I left her two bottles of milk, two bottles of water and one of 'teuccio' . I was worried, I was afraid of many things, that he would be able to drink milk. I thought that was enough. When I came home she was usually calm and playing with her toys in the cot. I washed her, changed her and gave her food."
(Unioneonline/D)
