Sexual violence against 13-year-old in Turin: judge releases shopkeeper after two nights
A 42-year-old Bengali shopkeeper, accused of raping a thirteen-year-old in a minimarket in Madonna di Campagna, has been released by a Turin judge after two nights. The decision triggers a national political controversy involving interventions from Nordio, Meloni and the CSM.
Turin, judge frees accused of sexual violence against 13-year-old: backlash from government and CSM
A 42-year-old shopkeeper, accused of sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl inside a minimarket in the Madonna di Campagna district, an extreme northern suburb of Turin, has been released after just two nights in Lorusso e Cutugno prison. According to Il Fatto Quotidiano - Cronaca, citing La Stampa for details of the ruling.
The judge for preliminary investigations justified the release by stating that the accused is "without a criminal record", "co-operative" and "remorseful", and that the "trauma of arrest" could already constitute a sufficient deterrent. The man, a Bengali national, is now subject to a reporting requirement at judicial police headquarters.
The facts of Saturday afternoon
The incident dates to the previous Saturday, shortly after 1 p.m. The girl's mother was at work; the thirteen-year-old had left home with three euros to buy a snack for her siblings, choosing the minimarket as the most economical shop in the area. Inside there were only her and the shopkeeper.
According to what the victim told investigators, the man had offered her a soft drink and asked her if she had a boyfriend and how old she was. After learning she was 13, he commented: "You are very young". The violence occurred immediately afterwards. Upon leaving the shop, the girl walked a few metres before collapsing on the pavement. "I couldn't move anymore. I felt disgusted. I felt sick", she recounted. She called her mother, then a friend who came to pick her up. Police took her to hospital, where the Bambi protocol was activated for underage victims of sexual violence.
The cameras and the prosecutor's request
A central element deemed important in the investigation concerns images from the shop's internal cameras: the footage would show a similar incident occurring just 40 minutes earlier, with an adult victim whom investigators have not yet identified. The shopkeeper handed over the recordings to officers — a circumstance that the judge valued in the ruling as a sign of co-operation.
Public Prosecutor Paolo Cappelli had requested the defendant be remanded in custody, emphasising the "concrete danger that, if free, he would commit crimes of the same nature". The risk, according to prosecutors, was linked both to the seriousness of the charge and to the dynamics of the facts: in less than an hour, according to the investigative reconstruction, the man would have abused two people. At the validation hearing he exercised his right to remain silent, but made a spontaneous statement: "I made a mistake, this is the first time it has happened to me. I am very sorry".
The political controversy
The judge's decision triggered immediate cross-party reactions. Representatives from the Democratic Party, Italia Viva and Futuro Nazionale described the ruling as unacceptable and called for intervention by the Ministry of Justice. Justice Minister Carlo Nordio announced the dispatch of inspectors to Turin to conduct inquiries into the matter.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni intervened with a social media post: "We talk, rightly, a lot about security. The Government is rightfully held to account for what goes wrong. But here the question must be asked thoroughly. We have written the laws, and they are more severe than ever. The police forces did their duty, in a few hours, very well. The Prosecution requested the harshest measure. The whole chain worked. And then a ruling arrives that breaks it in forty-eight hours, and we cannot do anything, except send inspectors from the Ministry, which is what we are doing."
Meloni added: "Who explains it to that family? Who explains it to that neighbourhood, which tonight knows that that man is there again? We carry on. Rules, people, resources, funds. To the end. But like this it is truly difficult. My total solidarity with the girl and her family."
The CSM considers opening proceedings
Two lay members of the Superior Council of the Judiciary, Claudia Eccher and Isabella Bertolini, also announced a formal initiative. In a joint statement they said: "While reaffirming full respect for the autonomy and independence of the Judiciary, one cannot ignore the profound disorientation caused by decisions of this type. In the presence of precise elements of proof, confirmed by objective evidence such as surveillance camera images, the assessment of the subject's dangerousness and the danger of recurrence must remain the guiding criteria to ensure the protections provided for by law."
The two members clarified that they were examining "the possibility of opening proceedings relating to the implications of the matter for the assessment of the professional conduct of the magistrate involved", with a request to the Prosecutor General to examine any disciplinary matters.
Source: Il Fatto Quotidiano - Cronaca