Man Who Beat Nigerian Street Vendor To Death Has Mental Health Issues, Says Family

A 32-year-old who brutally beat a Nigerian street vendor to death in broad daylight in Civitanova on Friday is said to suffer from mental health issues, according to his family.

Filippo Claudio Ferlazzo was caught on camera beating 39-year-old Nigerian Alika Ogorchukwu, a married father of two, in broad daylight on a shopping street in Civitanova and was circulated on social media and Italian news websites.

“Filippo underwent several psychiatric examinations, the last two in April. He is 100 per cent invalid,” Ursula, the mother of the attacker, stated.

Ferlazzo was with a woman at the time of the incident named Elena, who also spoke out saying, “I am upset and very angry with Filippo. It ruined our lives, not just that of Alika’s family. I did not witness the beating. After the street vendor approached we went ahead on the course,” the newspaper Il Giornale reports.

“I walked into a clothing store. When I came out Filippo was gone. What happened while I was inside was told to me when he reached me. He was stained with blood, he told me: ‘Come on, I beat one. In his hand he had a mobile phone that was not his own,'” she added.

The lawyer of the victim’s family Francesco Mantella, however, questioned why the 32-year-old was unsupervised saying, “If there is a psychiatric implication that fits into the causes of Alika’s murder, it is necessary to reflect. If Ferlazzo had a support administrator, it seems to have been his mother, why was he not supervised? It will be necessary to start a series of checks.”

Locals from the Nigerian community reacted to the incident on Saturday by holding a protest to demand justice, while politicians condemned the attack, including populist Mateo Salvini who stated “security has no colour” and added that security “need to return to being a right.”

Local mayor Fabrizio Ciarapica, meanwhile, stated that he has set aside 15,000 euros for funeral expenses and said the local government will open a civil case against Ferlazzo as well.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.