Satnam Singh could have been saved, employer of Indian labourer who died in Latina arrested

«Uan inhuman conduct and detrimental to the most basic values ​​of solidarity“. This is how the investigating judge Giuseppe Molfese defined the behaviour of Antonio Lovato, employer of Satnam Singh, the 31-year-old Indian farm worker, who died at the San Camillo hospital in Rome after being the victim of an accident at work on the Latina farm. Antonio Lovato, 38 years old, was arrested in these hours by the Carabinieri of Latina who have executed the order of custody in prison on charges of voluntary homicide with eventual intent (no longer only negligent), following the evidence brought by the coroner who showed how Satnam Singh could have been saved if the rescue had been timely. It was impossible not to realize, at the time, the danger of death. But he was not taken to hospital.

Satnam Singh was first sucked into a machine used to wrap plastic, then he was taken in a critical condition in front of his house, left there with his arm cut off and the affected limb placed inside a fruit collection box, not far away. The man had no documents and worked as an illegal laborer, his employer did not take him to the emergency room directly and when he took him to his wife Soni, according to what was reconstructed by the investigators, he began to repeat to her that Satnam was now dead and did not listen to the requests to call for help. But Lovato told the police: «I didn’t call the ambulance because the wife told me to take him home…».

To the horror of a story that can only be defined as inhuman, as the investigating judge himself has done, other details are added. First the investigation for gangmastering which has been involving the Lovato company for five years, today the lack of suitability certificates of the machine Satnam Singh was working on and of suitable work protections. Furthermore, after the accident, before transporting Satnam away from the company, Lovato allegedly ordered those present to keep quiet, telling them instead to clean the accident site from traces of blood. The arrest warrant states: «Regardless of ethical considerations, which would also be necessary in the face of inhuman conduct that is detrimental to the most basic values ​​of solidarity, the accused intentionally and voluntarily disregarded the probable consequences of his actions».