Thirty-year sentence confirmed for Said Mechaquat, the man who on 23 February 2019 killed 34-year-old Stefano Leo along the Po in Turin, a clerk in a clothing store.
The judges accepted the prosecutor's request and confirmed the first instance sentence .
The murder took place in broad daylight. The accused, 29-year-old of Moroccan origin, did not know the victim and allegedly acted at random to vent a situation of inner discomfort. He turned himself in a few weeks after the crime and gave confused explanations of his gesture: "I wanted to kill him because he was happy," he said among other things.
Said had posted himself in a driveway along the Lungo Po and attacked Leo, who was on his way to work, cutting his throat with a knife he had obtained shortly before.
The Court did not order - as already in the course of the first instance trial - the psychiatric report requested by the defense, and did not grant the general extenuating circumstances.
The comment of Mariagrazia Chiri, mother of the victim: "The tragedy naturally remains, but our request for justice has been accepted". Said Mechaquat in the courtroom had apologized for his gesture. "It's a private matter that I don't want to comment on," Chiri said on leaving the courthouse.
(Unioneonline / L)
