"When I notice two or three guards approaching my cell, I am still overcome with fear. After the day of beatings and numerous blows, I can no longer urinate standing up."
These are the words of the witness Vincent Bay, injured party in the massive trial for the violence perpetrated against the inmates in the prison of Santa Maria Capua Vetere April 6, 2020. The trial involves 105 defendants including prison officers, officials of the Department of Penitentiary Administration (Dap) and doctors of the ASL of Caserta.
Baia, currently in prison for a violent robbery that occurred several years ago in Quarto, during which a 68-year-old man was wounded by a gunshot, was forced to interrupt his questioning while testifying before prosecutors Alessandro Milita, Daniela Pannone, and Alessandra Pinto; his emotions were too strong to bear given the events of April 6th, nearly four years ago.
After a few minutes' recess, the hearing resumed; Baia was among the 14 inmates who, on April XNUMXth, were isolated following the beatings, as they were believed to have spearheaded the previous day's protest.
According to the Campania leadership of the Department of Penitentiary Administration (DAP), this protest led to the search on April 6, which later became a "massacre," as defined by the preliminary investigations judge of Santa Maria Capua Vetere.
The witness claims to recognize the officer Stanislaus Fusco, accused, as the one who violently beat him in the prison registration office.
"They entered my cell and even tore off my beard."
"He hit me repeatedly and pulled out my beard. When he and seven or eight other officers entered my cell, he stood aside because he was aware of his actions." declares Baia.
Fusco's defense attorney, Angelo Raucci, disputes Baia's account, arguing that he previously stated that his beard was pulled out by another officer in the corridor, not in the registration office. Baia corrects this by saying that his beard was pulled out multiple times, always by the same officer.
Baia continues by saying that he was attacked by an officer, identified as the accused. James Golluccio, with a kick in the stomach on the ground floor of the Nile ward. The witness specifies that only one officer helped him, accompanying him to the isolation cell in Danube department.
In the courtroom, Baia identifies the defendant Michael Vinciguerra, but the prosecutor Milita points out to him that he had previously indicated the agent Angelo Bruno as a savior, who is completely different from the defendant indicated today. "Maybe I was wrong", Baia replies, "but the policeman who saved me is the one indicated today."
The witness, who finds it difficult to watch the videos of the violence because "it hurts to see certain things", denies having signed the disciplinary report which explained that he had been placed in solitary confinement at the Danubio following the protests on April 5.
On that occasion, Baia and other inmates in the Nile Ward of the San Marino prison became agitated after the news that another inmate had tested positive for Covid. Prosecutor Milita noted that witness D'Alessio, another victim of the beatings who joined the civil action, also "Last week he denied having signed the disciplinary report."
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