Three migrant youths on temporary leave from a refugee center raped a 15-year-old Italian girl Saturday evening on a beach near Udine in northeastern Italy.
The young woman was alone and waiting for some friends when she was approached by a group of three men — two are Albanians and one Egyptian. The three had left a refugee center in Milan to spend the mid-August night by the sea, in Lignano Sabbiadoro, a well-known seaside resort in the province of Udine.
According to Milanese daily Il Giornale, the group of foreigners is suspected of forcing themselves on the girl, with two of them allegedly raping the 15-year-old, while the third migrant, a peer of theirs, allegedly only watched what his friends were doing without trying to stop them or warn anyone. The police are charging him with aiding and abetting the crime and for failing to report it to authorities.
Massimiliano Ortolan, manager of the Udine mobile police squad, said that “it must be extremely clear who did what”.
On Sunday, Aug. 16, investigations continued to ascertain which migrant committed which crime, with the Prosecutor’s Office for minors of Trieste also becoming involved in the case.
After being assaulted, the girl called the police. Once the police car arrived at the scene, the girl, originally from Padua but living in Venice with her parents, told the agents what had happened to her. She had arrived in Lignano on the afternoon of Friday, Aug. 14, to meet some friends on the coast and spend the evening with them. Shortly after, however, she would was left alone for a few minutes with the intention of joining her friends later.
The Venetian girl then remained on the beach and was approached by the three non-EU citizens, at which point the 15-year-old said she was raped. The medical tests performed in the hospital confirmed her claim. The victim was discharged, with doctors telling her that her physical injuries would heal in 15 days.
The hunt for the three suspects began immediately. The police officers coordinated with Chief Inspector Omar Di Ronco, who was assisted by traffic police and the carabinieri in searching the whole area. With the help of the images of nearby security cameras, police identified and arrested the three suspects.
“More controls and stricter measures, up to chemical castration for those who commit crimes of a sexual nature need to be considered,” said Pierpaolo Roberti, the League party’s security councilor of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region.
He then added that “the worrying cultural climate in which certain phenomena occur is a sign of a total lack of any kind of values”.
The three non-EU citizens were eventually taken to the Udine police headquarters and remain in custody.
Title image: Lignano beach at night. (www.lignanosabbiadoro.com)
