Mother convicted of daughter's murder admitted to restorative justice programme
Catania, judges grant restorative justice to 26-year-old imprisoned for aggravated homicide.
Mother convicted of daughter's murder admitted to restorative justice programme
Judges at the Catania Court of Assise Appeal have authorised a 26-year-old woman to undertake a restorative justice process. The young woman, imprisoned for taking the life of her daughter, not yet five years old, in June 2022, had simulated the child's abduction after concealing her remains in a rural area near Mascalucia.
The first-instance sentence, issued on 12 July 2024 with abbreviated proceedings, had imposed thirty years' imprisonment. The judges have now accepted the defence motion submitted by lawyers Tommaso Tamburino and Gabriele Celesti, as reported by La Sicilia.
During the previous hearings, both the appeal prosecutor Agata Consoli and the civil party representative Barbara Ronsisvalle, who represents the victim's father and his parents, had shown opposition. The latter declined any direct confrontation, making it necessary to identify a "substitute" victim, that is one linked to a different criminal act.
The Court clarified that participation in the programme remains voluntary for each person involved, though it noted that current law explicitly permits recourse to a "non-specific" victim. A new hearing is scheduled for 14 September, at which the facility that will oversee the meetings within the prison where the convicted woman is serving her sentence will be designated.
Source: ANSA Cronaca