On Thursday, the criminal court of the northern Italian city of Como sentenced the 56-year-old illegal immigrant from Tunisia who stabbed a Catholic priest to death with a kitchen knife on September 15, 2020, to life imprisonment.
The court rejected the defense's argument that the perpetrator was unaccountable and found that he planned the murder in advance.
The open street killing of 51-year-old Father Roberto Malgesini, known for his care for refugees, caused a huge public outcry. The priest was handing out food at a church shelter for the homeless in Como, northern Italy, when his hooded assailant fell on him with a kitchen knife.
The attacker, identified as Rahdi Mahmudi, had been staying illegally in Italy for years, where he arrived in 1993 from Tunisia. The man's exact motive is obscure, according to press reports, he was struggling with mental problems and was afraid that the priest wanted to reveal his whereabouts to the authorities.
According to reports from the Italian daily La Stampa last year, Mahmudi was twice deported by the authorities. The first time he managed to hide in 2018, and the second time, in 2020, the deportation was not carried out because air traffic between Italy and Tunisia was suspended due to the coronavirus epidemic. Most recently, the man lived in a homeless shelter in Como.
Source: MTI/MH
Image: Pixabay
