Italian nurse released after 12 years imprisoned for murder she did not commit
Monica Busetto, a 64-year-old nurse, was freed after old family photographs overturned the central evidence of her conviction. The Trento Court of Appeal ordered her release on Friday.
Family photographs overturn nurse's conviction after 12 years in prison
The Trento Court of Appeal ordered the release on Friday of Monica Busetto, a 64-year-old Italian nurse who had been serving a 25-year prison sentence for the murder of her neighbour Lida Taffi Pamio, 87, a crime committed in 2012 in Mestre, northern Italy, according to reports from tvi.iol.pt.
Taffi Pamio was murdered and robbed in her home. The main evidence that sustained Busetto's conviction was a necklace seized from her residence: investigators concluded that it was compatible with what had been stolen from the victim and that it contained a small quantity of the victim's genetic material.
The case took a significant turn when another woman, Susanna Milly Lazzarini, was arrested three years later for a similar murder and confessed, during trial, to being the murderer of Taffi Pamio. The judges considered, however, her statements to be unreliable — Lazzarini altered her version of events several times — maintaining Busetto's conviction.
The definitive change came through the television programme "Le Iene", which recovered family photographs from the 1980s. The images demonstrated that the victim's necklace had characteristics distinct from the piece of jewellery found in the nurse's home, contradicting the prosecution's thesis: the item did not belong to Taffi Pamio, but to the condemned woman herself.
Busetto's lawyers had previously requested a review of the sentence, citing contradictions between the convictions of the two women. The Trento court ruled in their favour.
According to local media cited by tvi.iol.pt, Busetto learned of the decision in Verona prison and reacted with great emotion, "almost disbelieving". Her lawyer, Stefano Busetto, made a statement to the press after the verdict: "Now we have to tell Monica: sorry for the delay."
Source: Google News PT — Crime (pt)