Italian Who Killed Robbers Threatening to Murder his Wife Jailed for 13 Years

An Italian man who fatally shot two robbers and wounded a third after they broke into his jewellery shop threatening to murder his wife has been sentenced to 13 years in prison and ordered to compensate the families of the two robbers he killed.

Guido Gianni, a 57-year-old jeweller from Nicolosi, Italy, was sentenced to 13 years for the double murder and attempted murder of armed men who broke into his jewellery shop and threatened to kill his wife in February 2008, according to a report by La Sicilia.

According to La Repubblica, the jeweller’s lawyer, Michele Liuzzo, said that Gianni would have preferred to spend the last eleven years spent waiting already serving his prison sentence, rather than begin it now, and embark on — as Liuzzo put it — “a second nightmare.” 

The three robbers had entered the jewellery shop with a gun and demanded money and jewels from Gianni’s wife, Mariangela Di Stefano.

Gianni, who had been working in the back of the store, intervened with a 9-millimetre pistol and fired a few shots into the air in an attempt to ward the thieves away.

The thieves apparently reacted by throwing themselves onto Gianni, according to Secolo d’Italia, which led to a scuffle between the jeweller and the three robbers. At some point during the confrontation, Gianni fired his pistol again, fatally wounding two of the thieves.

The report added that “forensic and ballistic experts” later suggested that the jeweller fatally shot the two robbers as they attempted to flee the store.

Moreover, it was later discovered that the gun the thieves had used to threaten Gianni and Di Stefano with was fake — but that there was no way for Gianni to know, as the robbers had removed the red cap to signify that the gun was a replica.

“Defense is always legitimate!” proclaimed former Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini on Twitter in reaction to Gianni’s sentencing.

“Shame!” the populist leader added.

“Italian ‘justice’ condemns the jeweller attacked in Sicily, [and] his wife threatened with death — I am with those who defend themselves, always.”

“I’m very, very angry and disappointed — disappointed in the law,” said Mrs Di Stefano. “This is not justice — my husband is an honest man. These thieves attacked me. They were hurting me. They wanted to kill me, and he is at fault for defending me.”

Gianni’s lawyers claim that the jeweller was acting in self-defence and that his mind was “clouded” during the attack.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.