Italy arrests US man over mother and child deaths in Rome park
US
citizen on Friday in connection with the death of a woman and her baby daughter whose naked bodies were found in a park in
central Rome
.
The man, who was not named, was arrested on the Greek island of Skiathos, Rome's chief prosecutor, Francesco Lo Voi, told reporters at a news conference.
The case has grabbed headlines in Italy since the mother and her child, who was less than one year old, were found dead on Saturday in Villa Pamphili, Rome's largest central city park.
None of the people involved have been named, and prosecutors in the case told reporters they had still not been able to identify the mother or the child.
READ MORE
Italian newspapers have reported that the mother and child were also US citizens, but prosecutors did not confirm this.
Mr Lo Voi said the arrested man had declared he was the father of the child, and there was 'robust evidence' that he had killed her, while the cause of death of the mother was less clear.
The suspect flew to Skiathos from Rome on Wednesday, and his DNA would be examined to establish whether he was the father, the prosecutor said.
He was arrested based on evidence including witness accounts and surveillance camera footage, while the fact he had flown to Greece shortly after being seen with the victims 'in itself doesn't count in his favour,' Mr Lo Voi said.
Lead prosecutor Giuseppe Cascini said the man had been seen with the child in his arms after the presumed time of death of the mother.
The evidence against the suspect was particularly strong regarding the death of the child, Mr Cascini said, but the case was 'a probable dual murder'.
The prosecutors thanked the US
FBI
for its help in identifying the man, and the Greek authorities for their role in the arrest.
The man, woman and child were first seen together in Italy in April, and there was no record of any of them in the country before then, they said. —Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Man (24) who stabbed sister's partner with kitchen knife found guilty of manslaughter
A 24-year-old man who told gardaí he was 'so drunk' that he couldn't remember fatally stabbing his sister's partner once in the chest with a kitchen knife following a dispute has been found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter by a Central Criminal Court jury. The panel of eight men and four women unanimously rejected the prosecution case that Valeriu Melnic was guilty of murder, despite evidence he had told Ion Daghi 'I will kill you' when the deceased had tried to calm him down. The State had submitted this was the 'clearest statement of intent' that the jury were likely to encounter. Moldovan national Melnic, with an address at Calliaghstown Lower, Rathcoole, Co Dublin had pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Mr Daghi (39) at The Close, Sallins Park, Sallins in Co Kildare on May 12th, 2024. In seeking a verdict of manslaughter for his client, Brendan Grehan SC, defending, told the jurors in his closing address that the issue of intoxication was 'all over' the case and that the consumption of three bottles of 'firewater' had an effect on everyone that night. Counsel submitted that whiskey can have a remarkable transformation on people's moods and how they behave. READ MORE Melnic told gardaí in his interviews that he couldn't remember stabbing his sister's partner with the knife as he was so drunk but later said that 'all the evidence pointed' to him being 'the only one responsible'. Mr Grehan also argued in his closing speech that if everybody who said the words 'I will kill you' in a fight were guilty of murder, the State wouldn't be able to build prisons fast enough. 'People say things not meaning them,' he submitted. Whereas, Carl Hanahoe SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, submitted in his closing address that Mr Daghi had entered his kitchen when a struggle pursued between the defendant and his sister. 'It wasn't the entry of a bull or a bear, it was a man entering saying 'calm down, calm down'.' The defence had asked for a verdict of manslaughter on the basis of intoxication or the partial defence of provocation, which can reduce an intentional killing from murder to manslaughter. Mr Grehan said there wasn't any doubt but that a provocative act had occurred to his client, who he said was 'badly beaten' and had reacted to that. He said the defendant had picked up a knife in the heat of the moment, where passions did not have time to cool. 'Provocation is a reaction to something that causes you to boil over; and boil over he did and cause the death of the deceased'. The jury had the option of returning two verdicts in relation to the murder charge against Melnic, namely; guilty of murder or not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. The 12 jurors took six hours and 27 minutes over three days to reject the State's contention that the defences of provocation and intoxication were not open to Melnic. Following Monday's unanimous verdict, presiding judge Mr Justice David Keane thanked the jury for their service and exempted them from further jury duty for the next ten years. A sentence hearing for Melnic is expected to take place on November 3rd and the judge remanded the defendant in custody until that date. The case was listed for mention on October 20th. The Daghi family will have an opportunity to make a statement to the court about the impact Ion's death has had on their lives during the sentencing hearing. The trial heard that on the evening in question, Melnic met up with a friend and proceeded to Mr Daghi's house, arriving at 8pm. There were a number of people present in the house and they had some food in the garden, drank a bottle of whiskey and proceeded to a pub where a second bottle of whiskey was purchased and consumed back at the house. The group then went to a nightclub where they bought a third bottle of whiskey. Some time around 3am, a dispute arose between Melnic and Mr Daghi. Witness Alexandru Beccieu (24) said both he and Mr Daghi were trying to calm Melnic down but the defendant was 'very drunk'. Under cross-examination, Mr Beccieu agreed with Mr Grehan that Melnic must have had 'a colossal amount' of the whiskey as the deceased didn't have a lot of alcohol in his system. A pathologist told the jury that Mr Daghi died from a single stab wound to the chest, which measured 13cm in depth, and death would have been very rapid. Referring to the law of intoxication in his charge, Mr Justice Keane had said it is not a complete defence to murder and is there if the defendant's mind was in such a state from the effects of alcohol that he had not intended to kill or cause serious injury. He told the jurors if they had a doubt about that, then the verdict should be not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.
Irish Times
15 hours ago
- Irish Times
Convicted soldiers' return to service showed it was ‘all right to kill a Paddy', Sinn Féin figure complained
The British army's decision to readmit two soldiers convicted for murder showed it was 'all right to kill a Paddy', a senior Sinn Féin figure furiously complained in 2000. Eighteen-year-old Peter McBride was shot in the back by Scots guardsmen Mark Wright and James Fisher in 1992 after he ran away from an army patrol that had searched his home in north Belfast . The two soldiers were convicted of murder in 1995 and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, they served only three years before they were given early release under the 1998 Belfast Agreement . Later, a British army board ruled they could return to military service, but this decision was overturned by a British court. A second board then ruled they could continue as soldiers, but this decision was kept secret for nearly two years. READ MORE Once it became public, it provoked a public outcry. Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly complained furiously in a phone call with the Northern Ireland Office's political director, Bill Jeffrey. In a note of Mr Kelly's remarks later, Mr Jeffrey quoted him as saying: 'The decision was a disgrace and had been greeted with incredulity, even by people who had expected nothing of the British. 'The army dismissed large numbers of soldiers every year for smoking dope, but it was all right to kill a Paddy. We were dragging our heels over OTRs (on-the-runs), but murderers were taken back into the British army,' he said. Denying involvement, Mr Jeffrey said the British army operated independently 'in matters of this kind'. Replying, Mr Kelly said: 'In that case, the prime minister should take the matter out of their hands.' Mr Kelly remains a Sinn Féin Assembly member for North Belfast. In 1983, Mr Kelly – a convicted IRA bomber – was part of a mass breakout of prisoners from the Maze/Long Kesh prison outside Belfast, during which one prison officer died and another was shot. He is a former hunger striker and was part of Sinn Féin's negotiating team during the years leading up to the Belfast Agreement.
Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
Man who recorded himself murdering his wife said he killed her after ‘freaking out', court hears
A father of two who recorded the moment he stabbed his wife to death told emergency responders he killed her after he 'freaked out', a court has heard. Stephen Mooney (53) was on Monday sentenced at the Central Criminal Court to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife Anna Mooney, née Shuplikova. Mooney pleaded guilty to his wife's murder earlier this year after gardaí accessed the contents of his phone and discovered video footage of the build-up to the murder and an audio recording of the murder itself. Outlining the evidence, Det Sgt Basil Grimes told the court how Mooney called emergency services at 1.09am on June 15th, 2023. He reported that a person had been stabbed at his home on Kilbarrack Road, Kilbarrack, Dublin 5, and when asked who did it he replied: 'I did.' READ MORE A Dublin Fire Brigade officer was first on the scene and found Mooney kneeling over his wife's lifeless body, speaking to emergency services on the phone. She had a knife lodged in her chest. The defendant told the paramedic: 'I've killed her ... She's my wife. This has been going on for years. I'm really sorry. She's been having an affair.' A garda who arrived a short time later took a note of Mooney saying: 'She's having an affair. It got out of control, I tried to save her. Everyone's lives are ruined.' He also said: 'It's awful. I'm sorry to put you through this. I saw something on her phone about sex and everything else and freaked out.' He later said: 'There is no suspect. I am the guilty one. There's nothing worth this.' Det Gda Jeanette O'Neill found blood pooling on a couch and blood spatter on the wall immediately behind it. Ms Mooney was lying on the kitchen floor when paramedics arrived. Pathologist Dr Sallyanne Collis said the stab wound to Ms Mooney's chest tracked to 13.3cm and pierced the heart, diaphragm and abdominal cavity. There were further stab wounds to her back and her upper arm and incised wounds to her hand and arm. The pathologist said death was caused by multiple sharp force injuries. Det Sgt Grimes said that, weeks before Mooney was due to go on trial, gardaí accessed his phone using updated software that can access content protected by a password. Analysis of the phone uncovered a 90-minute video clip that included footage of the murder, he said. He said Mooney could be seen leaving the room where the murder happened and returning with the weapon. The moment when Ms Mooney died happened off-camera, he said, but the audio recorded 'all events leading to her death'. Det Sgt Grimes said the video went quiet before Mr Mooney could be seen returning to the kitchen where he drank three glasses of water and ran water over his hands while making the 999 call. The detective said it appeared that Mooney himself set the phone to record in an elevated position with a view of the kitchen table. Detectives believed Mooney set it up that way to record his wife entering her pin number into her own phone, so he could use it to find out who she was contacting. The detective confirmed Mooney had worked as an estate agent and had no previous convictions. Under cross-examination, he agreed with Michael Bowman SC, defending, that Ms Mooney moved to Ireland from Ukraine in 2004 and the pair married in 2005. They have two children together. Det Sgt Grimes agreed the investigation confirmed Ms Mooney was having a relationship with a man in Germany. Her brother, Anton Shuplikova, listened to the proceedings from Ukraine using a video-link and an interpreter. Following the detective's evidence, Mooney took the stand to apologise to his wife's family. 'I am truly sorry for what happened that night,' he said. 'It is the burden I go to bed with every night and wake up with every day.' He also said: 'I wish to apologise to my kids for the terrible suffering I have caused everybody. I hope one day everybody will be able to forgive me,' he said. Mr Justice Paul McDermott imposed life imprisonment. He said he had no discretion in sentencing and Mooney's future would be determined by a parole board.
