The hearing in the trial of reviewing the life sentence of Beniamino Zuncheddu , who has been in prison since February 1991 because he was believed to be the perpetrator of the Sinnai massacre committed the previous 8 January, opens in the Court of Appeal in Rome. And immediately there is a surprise: at the request of one of the witnesses the interrogation takes place behind closed doors . Everyone out of the courtroom, therefore, except judges and lawyers.

The content of the deposition is perhaps the basis of the decision. Today you heard from a shepherd who was employed by the victims at the time (Gesuino Fadda, owner of the Cuile is Coccus sheepfold on the slopes of Mount Serpeddì a short distance from Burcei, his son Giuseppe and the shepherd Ignazio Pusceddu were killed), the current occupant of the sheepfold and a police sergeant.

The "super-witness", once the deposition was finished, was made to leave through a side door.

The triple crime, according to the reconstruction of the time, had been committed in an agro-pastoral environment.

Originally there were disagreements between neighboring farmers (near Cuile is Coccus there is Masone cuss), livestock trespassing, animals killed, arguments. And the one who carried out the massacre according to the sentence was Zuncheddu, who thus would have avenged the killing of the cows of those who gravitated towards Masone cuss.

Murders always denied, however, by the lifer.

In 2020, the then prosecutor of Cagliari, Francesca Nanni , and the prisoner's lawyer, Mauro Trogu , asked for the trial to be reviewed to demonstrate that in reality those responsible were others in terms of capacity for action, motivations and speed of execution.

According to them, there is a connection with the kidnapping of Gianni Murgia , committed in October 1990: the hostage was freed in Austis a few days after the massacre and the current hypothesis is that the bandits in transporting him to the hideout had passed through Cuile is Coccu to leave it to the custodian group.

The Fadda would have seen something or, one of the character's theses, would have contributed to the kidnapping. And for this they would have been killed, perhaps after being asked for part of the ransom.

The turning point in the review process came last Tuesday, when the only survivor of the massacre, Luigi Pinna , confirmed before the Court of Appeal after three decades what investigators and lawyers had suspected: his recognition of Zuncheddu as responsible, an indication to basis of the conviction, he had arrived after seeing his photograph , because previously he had no idea who the shepherd of Burcei was.

Who had shown it to him? The Superintendent of Police Mario Uda , on his own initiative, however taken before the official recognition before the prosecutor. A step which would therefore make Pinna's indication unreliable, as claimed by the prosecutor in the request for review. According to Nanni, in fact, that move made the "main evidence" against Zuncheddu "false", who therefore, in his opinion, should be acquitted.

A week ago Pinna's direct confirmation. It was denied shortly afterwards by Uda himself, who testified between 9.30 pm and 11.20 pm. But the survivor's sentence, pronounced after an hour and a half of hearing during a dramatic testimony, remains intact in its explosive force on the continuation of the trial. Which today reaches another, decisive stage before the conclusion.

Once the testimony of Carabinieri Marshal Ernesto Corona, stationed in Burcei from 2014 to 2022, was concluded, the testimony of the third person summoned to the Court of Appeal began. And this time too the president has ordered that the proceedings be carried out behind closed doors .

© Riproduzione riservata