Mohammed Saidi, the 27-year-old Algerian man arrested by local police for slashing a woman with a knife at the Duomo metro station last Thursday in Milan, remains in prison. He is potentially dangerous and has given a less than credible version of events.
Preliminary Investigating Judge Cristian Mariani today validated the arrest, ordering a precautionary prison sentence on the charge of permanent facial disfigurement, acknowledging the aggravating circumstances of "futile motives" and "clear danger to society." In the order, the judge emphasized that Saidi displayed a "total lack of control and unscrupulousness" against "a defenseless woman," inflicting a wound from her nose to her neck without her even attempting to react, even after being insulted.
The fight, in fact, would have been caused by her desperate attempt to oppose his blind rage.
The man, questioned this morning in San Vittore prison, did not exercise his right to remain silent, but offered his version of events. This account was deemed unlikely, if not entirely implausible. Saidi—who is also charged with resisting arrest—indeed displayed a hostile attitude, appearing angry and attempting to overturn the reconstruction of events that had emerged thus far .
The twenty-seven-year-old reportedly said he had arrived in Italy from France only a month earlier and had worked as a plumber with another Algerian. He later claimed he was the victim of the attack because the girl had glared at him and insulted him. He also denied having said he was Muslim (this detail, however, is not included in the documents).
Saidi also denied having had any knife with him, explaining that the girl injured herself with the metal buckle of her handbag during the fight.
"He pulled out a knife and stabbed me in the face," the young woman reported. "I thought I was going to die; I couldn't see anything, and the blood was making it hard for me to breathe." The twenty-seven-year-old then reportedly walked away, not to escape, but because he felt faint. He also claimed the blood on the ground was his, and during questioning, he insisted on showing a wound on his finger. He also reportedly complained about the use of force against him when he was arrested, but the local police officers likely had no choice but to tackle him forcefully after the long chase, especially since he was moving through a crowd of passersby on the centrally located Via Torino.
"He told his version," his lawyer, Mara Bracco, said laconically when reached by telephone, "then there will probably be further investigations."
The man, who requested repatriation, remains in San Vittore. As precautionary measures, he is accused of being at risk of repeating the crime and fleeing.
