Little Elena, killed by her mother, jealous of her ex's new partner

"It was me".

So Martina Patti, 23 , confessed to stabbing her little daughter Elena Del Pozzo , just 5 years old, after having taken her from the asylum in Tremestieri Etneo (Catania) and having taken her to the countryside.

After the murder, which was committed with repeated blows , the young mother then attempted to bury the little body in a piece of land near her house.

It was she, then, who gave the alarm to the carabinieri, denouncing a kidnapping . A version that immediately seemed unlikely to investigators. Then the arrest and the interrogation. Finally, the 23-year-old collapsed, admitting her faults , in a way - the investigators report - "absent and distant".

Patti explained that she acted alone . But the motive is silent. "She remained vague - explain the carabinieri - as if she did not realize what she did. It is as if she said: 'I did it but I don't know why' ".

For the investigators, however, there is a hypothesis: jealousy towards the current partner of ex-partner Alessandro Del Pozzo , 24, for the affection that little Elena showed her.

"He did not tolerate even his own daughter becoming fond of it" , say the investigators.

The investigations brought to light a "sad family picture" : behind the "apparently serene" management of the child, there were tensions and quarrels. An anger that would be brooding inside Martina to the point of leading her to premeditate the crime with a plan studied in detail.

Distraught relatives and all residents of the area. Starting with the paternal grandparents, destroyed and in tears. " You couldn't imagine what happened - says the grandfather, Giovanni Dal Pozzo - it all seems so strange, absurd. Elena's mother was a very closed girl, but I can't explain the reason for what happened. But now whoever did it must pay, even whoever helped it eventually ".

THE LAWYER - "It was a dramatic interrogation " of a " destroyed and very tried woman who did something that not even she thought she could do", acting as if "someone had taken possession" of her , proving to be "anything but cold and calculating ". The lawyer Gabriele Celesti who defends Martina Patti reported." I will meet my client with a renowned psychiatrist - adds the criminal lawyer - to check her conditions and then we will decide on the report. I must acknowledge great fairness to the carabinieri and the prosecutor's office ".

(Unioneonline / lf)