The escape of Stefano Argentino, the 27-year-old university student who on Monday afternoon slit the throat of a faculty colleague, Sara Campanella, a very young student from the province of Palermo, who had been studying in Messina for two years, lasted a handful of hours in front of dozens of witnesses .
The Carabinieri of the Messina provincial command found him hiding in a family home in Noto, in the Syracuse area. He had driven away after the murder - one of the witnesses had even tried to chase him - hoping to have gotten away with it. An escape facilitated by someone, suspect the Carabinieri who are now trying to identify who helped the femicide escape after fatally wounding Sara.
In the afternoon, many gathered in the Vittorio Emanuele gallery to demonstrate against yet another femicide. Today, in front of the investigating judge who will have to decide whether to validate the arrest ordered by the prosecutors and carried out by the military, the alleged murderer will probably avail himself of the right to remain silent. The lawyer Raffaele Leone - appointed by Stefano's parents - his mother is a housewife and his father is a bricklayer - has not yet decided whether to accept the mandate. "The family is shocked," he says.
In shock, the relatives of the young victim from Misilmeri, in the province of Palermo, are overwhelmed by grief. Sara's uncle and brother went to the Policlinico yesterday morning, where the student's body was taken and where the autopsy will be performed. "She grew up with us," said her uncle. "She was full of dreams and a desire to live."
Antonino Fricano, the young man from Bagheria who had been engaged to Sara for a few months, is also devastated . "Ciao mio amore, all this should not have happened, not to us two. A piece of my heart has been taken away," he wrote on social media. The investigation, conducted by the Carabinieri in record time, was aided by the accounts of witnesses to the murder, who immediately described the killer, the video surveillance images of the area - a busy area near the stadium - and the accounts of Sara's friends.
The girl had been subjected to the harassing attentions of Stefano for two years, who would not accept being rejected. The victim's colleagues knew it. And on Monday, Sara had sent one of them a message: "The sick man follows me." The 22-year-old never filed a complaint, perhaps she had underestimated the danger, but Stefano was annoying, ready to get offended if he did not receive attention, insistent. Those who know him describe Stefano Argentino as "a reserved and shy boy", passionate about motorcycles. His father was a worker and his mother was a housewife, and he has an older brother.
But no one, neither the victim nor her friends, thought it could get that far. Despite the suffocating and continuous stalking.
A boy who for the prosecutor denotes "an uncommon dangerousness showing brutality and cruelty" in his actions. "Enough, leave me alone," Sara shouted before being stabbed. He had followed her from the Policlinico, where the girl was doing an internship, then he probably returned to the attack. A violent argument had ensued. A witness saw him chasing Sara Campanella "with a cutting weapon in his hand", which has not yet been found. Sara was bleeding, lying on the ground while he ran away. Emergency services intervened immediately, but the 22-year-old died at the Policlinico shortly after arriving at the hospital.
(Online Union)