Alex Pompa, who killed his abusive father to defend his mother, has changed his surname

He doesn’t want to know more about that abusive parent. Thus Alex Pompa, the boy who on April 30, 2020, in Collegno, in the province of Turin, he killed his father Giuseppe, 52, to defend his mother and brother, decided to change his surname. She will be called Cotoia, like her mother and maternal grandfather. Her brother Loris also followed the same process: her paternal surname will also be canceled from her identity card.

Alex had killed the violent parent with 34 stab wounds, delivered with six different knives. And, immediately afterwards, he had called the carabinieri confessing to the crime he had committed. The public prosecutor had asked for 14 years’ imprisonment for him, but the Court of Assizes of Turin acquitted him because “the fact does not constitute a crime”.

Prosecutor Paolo Aghemo had been “forced to ask for 14 years in prison”, precisely because the rules for the red code exclude the granting of extenuating circumstances to those who kill a family member. And the Prosecutor had asked the judges to bring the case before the Constitutional Court. There were two possible sentences: 14 years or acquittal, in self-defense or because the fact did not constitute a crime, as the Court later decided. The lawyer Claudio Strata, who defended Alex Pompa, let the judges listen to over 9 hours of recordings with the threats and screams of his violent father. “Do you realize what Alex went through? He couldn’t study, he couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t live. Every evening, as he himself said, she went to bed only after having embraced her mother for a long time, fearing to wake up and find her no longer alive ».

On the day of the murder, Giuseppe Pompa had spied on his wife at work and was furious because a colleague had placed a hand on her shoulder. “After calling her 101 times on the phone, as soon as my mother returned home, he attacked her, he seemed possessed,” said Alex and Loris. «We thought he was going to kill us all».

The change of surname will help Alex and Loris to leave the past behind them. However, the two brothers cannot yet forget what they have experienced: soon there will be first hearing of the Appeal process (and the lawyer Claudio Strata filed the document certifying the change of surname, for the updating of the procedural documents). The trial was postponed to February 22. The President of the Court Cristina Domaneschi has ordered the renewal of the trial: the mother, brother and paternal uncle will then be heard again, as well as the technical consultants.

Violence and femicide, the expert: “Even the most unsuspecting can lose control”

The lawyer killed his violent father: «Pm “forced” to ask for 14 years, Alex is acquitted»