A 20-year-old Moroccan man, Mohamed Amine Elouardaoui, has been placed under a mental incompetence order after investigators concluded he was responsible for a string of violent assaults on women in Prato over a period of just over two months.
Ten women were attacked, several suffering fractures and disfigurement, but the suspect was repeatedly neither expelled nor formally arrested because he had previously been declared mentally unfit.
According to reporting by Corriere della Sera, the migrant told his psychiatrist that he was rejected by an Italian woman, which led him to wage an attack against total strangers just because they were female and Italian. The first assault occurred in late September, when a young woman shopping in a supermarket was punched in the face without warning. She sustained fractures to her jaw, cheekbone, and eye socket. The assailant fled and resurfaced weeks later at another supermarket, where he allegedly struck a woman in the back of the head. In November, he was accused of tripping a woman in the street and threatening a post office employee. Days later, he is said to have punched another woman in the ribs and crushed her hands against a checkout counter.
The violence escalated in early December. On Dec. 4, a 64-year-old woman suffered a fractured arm. The following day, a 30-year-old woman was slashed with a broken bottle in Piazza delle Carceri. A female police inspector intervened and arrested the suspect, to which the man reportedly said, “You can’t do that, you’re a woman,” in response.
🇮🇹🚨 A 30-year-old Italian woman was slashed in the face with a broken bottle on Saturday evening in Piazza delle Carceri in Prato, the latest in what authorities say is a pattern of unprovoked attacks carried out by the same 20-year-old Moroccan suspect.
The attacker was… pic.twitter.com/aQWynHRJXY
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) December 8, 2025Psychiatric assessments ordered by the investigating judge concluded that Elouardaoui suffers from schizophrenia and psychotic disorders. A psychiatrist told authorities the man had developed a fixation after being rejected by an Italian woman, and this had evolved into what experts described as an “ethnic hatred” toward Italian women. On that basis, the aggravating circumstance of ethnic hatred was applied.
Despite the severity of the assaults, the court ruled that the suspect was incapable of understanding his actions at the time of the offenses and unfit to stand trial. Instead of pre-trial detention, he was ordered into compulsory psychiatric care. He was initially placed in a hospital ward, from which he escaped, but was later transferred to a mental health facility in Volterra. He is reported to hold a valid residence permit.
The Prato case comes amid a similar incident reported this week in France. In Paris, a man described by police as homeless and later provided with an Afghan interpreter was arrested near Gare du Nord after two women were punched in the face in separate attacks 10 minutes apart on Tuesday morning. CCTV footage from rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin showed the first victim being struck violently and knocked to the ground before seeking refuge in a nearby café.
Moments later, the same suspect allegedly attacked a second woman on Rue de Dunkerque. Both victims were left shaken, and one required hospital treatment for facial bruising. The suspect was arrested within minutes and taken into custody.
