The Court of Appeal, presided over by professional judges Caputo and Anelli, confirmed, through a new expert report, that Alessia Pifferi was fully capable of understanding and willing when she abandoned her daughter Diana for several days.
The decision follows a request from the woman's lawyer, Alessia Pontenani, who had requested a new assessment, entrusted to psychiatrist Giacomo Francesco Filippini, neuropsychologist Nadia Bolognini, and child neuropsychiatrist Stefano Benzoni.
According to leaks, the expert's findings revealed that the woman had a disorder related to her childhood, but this did not affect her capacity to understand and decide at the time of her daughter's abandonment. The Attorney General's Office, represented by attorney Lucilla Tontodonati, opposed the request for a new expert assessment, deeming it unnecessary after the initial evaluation, which had already confirmed her capacity to understand.
Alessia Pifferi had been sentenced to life imprisonment in the first-degree trial , with prosecutor Francesco De Tommasi arguing that the woman had knowingly left her daughter at home for six days, with only a little milk and water, to spend a long weekend with her partner. Psychiatrist Elvezio Pirfo had already ruled out the presence of mental defects during the first trial.
On September 24th, the Court will hear the expert testimony in court, with the parties' counsel present. The appeal ruling could be delivered on October 22nd. If the conviction is confirmed, Pifferi faces a life sentence, barring any mitigating circumstances.
The defense has always maintained that the woman suffered from a "cognitive disorder."
"If they declared her incompetent, I wouldn't believe it," Viviana Pifferi, the victim's sister and a civil plaintiff along with Diana's mother and grandmother, represented by lawyer Emanuele De Mitri, declared outside the courtroom .
Meanwhile, on September 11th, the second part of the case will return before the preliminary hearing judge, involving lawyer Pontenani, four psychologists, and defense psychiatrist Marco Garbarini. They are accused of alleged "manipulation" to bias the first-degree expert report toward a suspected partial insanity.
