Slave of relatives for over 22 years, freed by Carabinieri

Slave of relatives for over 22 years, freed by Carabinieri. She was held hostage by her brother and sister-in-law.

A "hostage" for over 22 years by her brother and sister-in-law, they kept her locked up in an unheated room, never seeing a doctor, and never allowed to leave alone—not even to pray at her husband's grave.

It was the Carabinieri of the Campobasso Provincial Command who put an end to the nightmare experienced by a 67-year-old woman from Bojano, freeing her and placing her in a protected facility.

The victim's account—"lucid" and "precise," investigators assure—clinches the two tormentors' responsibility. It all began way back in 1995, when the woman, then 40, became a widow. To avoid experiencing the pain alone, she accepted the invitation of her brother, who offered to take her in and let her use the room that had belonged to her elderly parents.

The first few years of living together were peaceful, but the woman soon began to become a burden and was forced to move into a room next to the woodshed, accessible via a spiral staircase and equipped with an external locking system. Although rudimentary—a string tied to a nail anchored to the wall—it succeeded very well in preventing the woman from leaving in the couple's absence.

For years, she had no access to medical care, and only sporadically was she accompanied by a hairdresser, under the constant "monitoring" of her sister-in-law: she was forbidden to go out alone, and she was forbidden to even chat with anyone.

The turning point came a few months ago, when someone submitted a written report to the Carabinieri, who first verified its reliability and immediately requested the assistance of specialized personnel.

The woman was taken to the local Carabinieri station and interviewed by the marshal, in the presence of an expert appointed by the Campobasso prosecutor's office. Reassured that she would never have to return to that house, she reported more than twenty years of deprivation and psychological and physical abuse. She recounted being beaten and slapped by both her brother and sister-in-law, having been "entitled" to wash in the laundry tub only once a month, being denied access to the bathroom, and having had to live in freezing temperatures during the winter months.

"The 'resilience' of the elderly woman - the Carabinieri underline - She has been severely tested over the years, but her ability to endure the very serious deprivations she has suffered, from her personal freedom to that of speech and autonomy, has overcome, showing a desire to live and escape this situation, trying at every opportunity to ask for help, with attempts that have gone unheard for too long."

On this occasion, the commander of the Bojano Company once again underlined the importance of always promptly reporting violence, but also of not pretending nothing is happening, of listening to any requests for help, perhaps veiled, from neighbours, acquaintances or simply roommates and of contacting the police, "Because only by overcoming the wall of silence can we build a better society that guarantees everyone the same rights and puts an end to oppression."