Davide Fontana, the banker sentenced in the first instance to 30 years for the murder, dismemberment and concealment of the body of Carol Maltesi, killed in Rescaldina, in the Milan area, on 11 January 2022, has been admitted to restorative justice, a institution which came into force with the Cartabia reform.

This was decided by the Assize Court of Busto Arsizio, accepting the man's request for the first time in Italy. The system is not an alternative to the criminal procedure or detention in prison, it does not lead to a reduction in the sentence and does not have any impact on civil law but "consists in the reconstruction of the broken bond between victim, offender and community".

A form of conflict resolution, complementary to the process, based on listening and recognizing the other with the help of an impartial third party. That is, a mediator. The parties will meet before the mediator (not the Maltese family members who have already said no) to establish which path Fontana will have to face (who potentially, given the type of crime, could work as a volunteer in an anti-violence centre). Since this is an absolute novelty, it is not yet possible to predict a timing or how Fontana's path will translate in a concrete way.

“I feel a great need to make amends for my conduct,” Fontana told the judges, asking them to “allow me to do anything, to follow programs and paths, anything possible to do towards Carol's relatives and also towards other associations” .

"It certainly creates a precedent," commented the lawyer Stefano Paloschi, defender of Davide Fontana. «My client's case - he explained - was sent to the center for restorative justice and criminal mediation in Milan. There is no timetable for mediation, this could be a pilot case."

"My client and all of Carol Maltesi's family members do not want to meet Davide Fontana in any way," said plaintiff lawyer Manuela Scalia, who is assisting Fabio Maltesi, Carol Maltesi's father. «I advised my client, who lives in Amsterdam, of the Court's decision - continues Scalia - He said he was shocked and disgusted by a justice system that allows a self-confessed murderer, who killed, cut into pieces and eviscerated a girl, to access to a similar path ."

The woman, who had a six-year-old child, was slaughtered, cut into pieces and thrown down a ravine after her remains had been hidden in a freezer for three months. According to the judges, "since the preliminary investigation phase, the accused has demonstrated a serious, spontaneous and effective desire to make amends for the consequences of the crime, so much so that he has apologized to the victim's family since the first hearing". Therefore "the implementation of a restorative justice program by Fontana does not entail any concrete danger for the ascertainment of the facts, already judged at first instance, as recognized by all parties".

(Unioneonline/D)

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