Heavy sentences for all six adults accused of the gang rape that took place in July 2023 in Palermo , when a 19-year-old girl was taken to an abandoned construction site and raped in turn by seven young men .
Angelo Flores, Gabriele Di Trapani, Christian Maronia and Elio Arnao were sentenced to seven years in prison. Cristian Barone received six years and four months and Samuele La Grassa four and eight months .
The only minor in the group had already been sentenced by the juvenile court to 8 years and 8 months .
The Prosecutor's Office, represented in court by additional prosecutor Paola Vaccaro, had requested sentences ranging from 10 years and 8 months to 12 years.
The rape was filmed with a cell phone by Angelo Flores, who had been in a relationship with the victim. In the video, the girl can be heard repeatedly begging the gang to let her go . After the abuse, the boys walked away and left her alone.
The young woman was first made drunk, then taken to the foto italico where she was abused in turn by the boys of the gang. It was the victim herself who reported the facts. According to those responsible, however, it was a consensual relationship.
The words of the victim's lawyer, Carlo Garofalo: " The amount of the sentence has never interested me because I identify with the fact that these are young people and that for them a heavy sentence is a problem. However, it was important that there was a sentence , also because it was a double violence, after which they tried to pass off the rape victim as a girl of easy virtue or even consenting . Everything that has been said about this affair, which I can define as a dirty affair, not only because the matter is already dirty in itself as a gang rape, was said in a violent way that hurt everyone, not only my client but also me".
(Unioneonline/L)
