Twelve years in prison . This is the sentence inflicted on Bastiano Secci, the 55-year-old butcher from Irgoli who last March had beaten up his then partner, Patrizia Dessì, 50, who ended up in intensive care at the San Francesco hospital in Nuoro.

The man was charged with attempted aggravated murder.

The sentence was pronounced by the magistrate of the Nuoro court, Mauro Pusceddu, at the end of the trial with an abbreviated procedure , therefore with a discounted sentence for the accused, who will also have to pay a provisional amount of 45 thousand euros to the victim.

Prosecutor Selene Desole had asked for a sentence of 14 years and two months for the accused, a request which was supported by the civil party, represented by the lawyer Milena Patteri.

The defendant's defender, Federico Delitala, had instead fought to obtain the reduction of the crime from attempted murder to minor injuries, but the judge decided otherwise.

"The lady was certainly beaten but her life was never in danger, even though she remained in intensive care for a couple of days, so there can be no question of attempted murder ", is the theory of the lawyer, who has announced an appeal.

The beating had taken place in the woman's house: reduced to a mask of blood, she herself had asked for help from the neighbors, who then helped her.

Secci was stopped by the police several hours after the attack.

The man had already served 16 years in prison for the murder of his sister-in-law, Maria Antonietta Masala, killed with a hammer in the basement of a market in Orosei in 2008, and was released from prison three years ago.

He is currently locked up in the Oristano prison in Massama.

(Unioneonline/lf)

© Riproduzione riservata