The Court of Cassation confirmed the life sentence for Benno Neumair for the double murder and concealment of the bodies of his parents Laura Perselli and Peter Neumair , strangled on 4 January 2021 and thrown into the Isarco River.
The 33-year-old from Bolzano was convicted in the first instance in November 2022 and then on appeal in October 2023. Now the Supreme Court has also rejected the defense's appeal.
The sentence is therefore final, closing the last possible glimmer of hope to avoid life imprisonment. Benno Neumair's lawyers had focused in particular on the exclusion of the aggravating circumstance of premeditation and on non-imputability . Both in the first and second degree, however, the defendant had been considered perfectly lucid and aware of the action , and therefore the hypothesis of mental infirmity had been excluded.
The victims were two retired teachers aged 63 and 68. Neumair confessed to killing his parents – first his father and then his mother, who was not at home at the time – with a rope. He did so only after his mother Laura’s body was found, which occurred later than his father’s, and after having carried out numerous attempts to divert attention . According to the confession, the crime culminated in an argument with his father.
(Unioneonline/L)
