A video less than a minute long, full of violence. A large man, dressed in dark clothes, begins to kick, punch, and slap a disabled man. He tries to raise his hands in surrender, but ends up on the ground, taking blows to the stomach . He gets up but is yanked and beaten again.
It happened yesterday afternoon in Trani, where a 16-year-old boy furiously attacked a 33-year-old man, "guilty" of making eye contact with his girlfriend. She was reportedly the one who filmed the video. The 16-year-old was later identified by the Carabinieri, and his whereabouts are being investigated by the Juvenile Prosecutor's Office. The victim's parents contacted the police. Upon returning home, the 33-year-old had told them he had tripped and then crashed into a lamppost. But those claims were quickly refuted, as images of the attack had already gone viral.
"We're very angry, very angry. He's one of the boys we've known for the longest; to us, he's a son, a brother. And we're worried because we live in a very unpleasant environment," says one of the workers at the day center frequented by the victim, who works in a well-known inn in the city alongside other disabled people. The worker describes him as "a dutiful, well-mannered boy. We call him 'the king of the street,'" she says, "because he goes out often, even alone. Never a problem, never a worry. Now, however..."
He's frightened, "he doesn't understand why something like this happened," he adds, specifying that his parents are also "anguished." They filed a complaint but fear "spite or other harassment," the worker reports. "It's a deplorable act that deserves no comment other than that the perpetrator of that act will be prosecuted in all appropriate courts," condemned the mayor of Trani, Amedeo Bottaro.
(Unioneonline)
