Alex killed his abusive father: it was murder and not self-defense

Alex Cotoia (surname changed after the murder ed.) was acquitted in the first instance for having killed his abusive father, but for the judges of the appeal there was no legitimate defense and therefore it was a homocide. This says the Court, but adds that 14 years in prison, what the law would provide by not granting extenuating circumstances in cases of murder of a family member, are too many. It will be there Court Constitutional to decide the sentence for the boy who on the night of April 30, 2020 killed his father Giuseppe Pompa in their apartment in Collegno after an argument.

The Court of Appeal of Turin, after 6 hours of deliberation, raised the question of constitutional legitimacy saying that, in this case, “a sentence calibrated and proportional” to the fact and the personality of the accused is needed. During the indictment, the public prosecutor Alessandro Aghemo had said: «You have to have the courage to say it was a murder, that a son killed his father. Giuseppe Pompa was a violent, obsessive, aggressive man, who however never went from threats to deeds». In the reconstruction of the prosecution, the accused did not react to an attack. “Alex acted in advance and armed himself and hit an unarmed person, delivering the first blow to his back.” The blows to the violent father will eventually be more than 30.

Instead, the defense has always supported self-defense, recalling that yet another dispute was underway that evening between the man and his wife accused of having smiled at a work colleague. «I acted to defend ourselves. To defend myself, my mother and my brother. My father was going to the kitchen to get a knife and I anticipated him. He would have killed us all », Alex has always said.

The defense attorney, the lawyer Claudio Strata, had turned to the judges: «He is not a murderer. He’s a boy who grew up too fast, who’s been through things that would have shattered a rock.” Now he explains: «It is clear that Alex will be sentenced. Now the trial is suspended, but the order clearly states that it is not a case of self-defense and, therefore, the sentence will be guilty. We will appeal to the Supreme Court. But I am very saddened. Alex is not a murderer and this is not murder.” Her mother in tears. “Alex is not a murderer. Just look him in the eye to understand it. If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be alive, I wouldn’t be here. Yes, perhaps that is what I have failed to make the Court understand.’

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