Moroccan-born Said Mechaout has been sentenced to a maximum 30 years behind bars over a year after he murdered Italian man Stefano Leo in Turin because he was “white” and “happy”.
The murder took place on February 23rd on the banks of the river Po in Turin but it wasn’t until around a month later that 27-year-old Mechaout, a naturalised Italian citizen born in Morocco, confessed to the killing.
Italian prosecutors Ciro Santoriello and Enzo Bucarelli both pushed for the maximum sentence of 30 years in the case after remarking that Mechaout showed little to no remorse following the murder.
Mariagrazia Chiri, the mother of Stefano Leo, was also present at the sentencing and commented “We have always been confident. And the sentence gives us that reason. Justice has run its course,” Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera reports.
Basilio Foti, the lawyer for Mechaout, said that he expected the sentenced to be reduced on appeal, however, noting that Mechaout came forward himself and confessed to the crime.
The confession, which took place over a month after the murder, saw the Moroccan migrant explain to the police that he killed Leo simply because he was white looked “happy”.
“I hit a white, based on the obvious fact that a young Italian would have caused a sensation,” he allegedly told police.
“I looked at him and I was sure he was Italian. I wanted to kill a guy like me, take away all the promises he had, children, remove him from his friends and relatives.”
The case is just one of several brutal murders in Italy in which migrants have been the preparators. One of the most brutal was the murder of Italian teen Pamela Mastropietro, who was killed and her body dismembered by a Nigerian drug dealer in 2018.
Later testimony from a man imprisoned with the Nigerian following the murder suggested that the teen may have still been alive as she was being dismembered.
Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com