The judge who freed confessed killer Said Mechaquat after an appeal has publicly apologised to the family of the Moroccan-born migrant’s victim, Stefano Leo.
Judge Edmondo Barelli Innocenti, who is the president of the Court of Appeal in Turin, publicly apologised to Leo’s family, saying, “As a representative of the state I would like to apologise to the family of Stefano Leo,” but added, “I do not agree to say that the Court of Appeal is jointly responsible for the murder. We did what we had to do,” Il Giornale reports.
This “apology” comes after it was revealed that the Italian-Moroccan had been sentenced in June of 2016 to a year and six months in prison for aggravated assault on an ex-girlfriend.
At the time, another judge had denied him a suspended sentence in the case, referring to past crimes he had also committed. Despite this, the Court of Appeal later ruled that Said would not have to go to prison and serve his sentence and he was allowed to remain free.
“There was a problem. I can apologise, but there is no certainty that Mechaquat Said could still be imprisoned on February 23rd,” the judge added.
The Italian Ministry of Justice has launched a formal investigation into the matter to determine whether or not a judicial error was made in the case.
Said made headlines earlier this week after he turned himself in to police and admitted to stabbing Leo in the throat on the banks of the river Po, saying that he targetted him because he looked happy and he wanted to target a white Italian.
The killing is the latest to make headlines in Italy and follows the gruesome murder of Italian teen Pamela Mastropietro, who was allegedly murdered by a Nigerian drug dealer last year.
The trial of suspect Innocent Oseghale began earlier this year and horrific testimony from a man detained in prison with him claimed that Oseghale and another accomplice had begun dismembering 18-year-old Mastropietro while she was still alive.
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