Caserta – It seemed like justice was certain, set in stone with a life sentence and a 24-year sentence. Instead, the ruling by the Naples Court of Assizes of Appeal rewrites the procedural truth about the murder of Luigi Izzo, the 38-year-old barber stabbed to death in the driveway of his home in Castel Volturno on November 6, 2022.
The sentences for his killers, Alessandro and Roberto Moniello, father and son, have been drastically reduced. For Alessandro Moniello, the perpetrator, the sentence was reduced from life to 24 years. For his son Roberto, who held down the victim and incited his father, the sentence was reduced from 24 to 18 years.
What outrages the family and shocks the community is the reasoning behind the discount: both were granted mitigating circumstances. A legal clean slate that seems to ignore the cruelty of the crime and, above all, the cry of pain uttered by the victim's widow, 35-year-old Federica Sautto.
The woman, who watched her husband die before her eyes, tried to make her voice heard in a heartbreaking letter, sent through her lawyer. A desperate plea not to give in to what she called a farce. "I implore you that justice be done, for my husband Luigi, for me and our children, innocent victims of this horrible affair," Federica wrote.
In her letter, the widow had anticipated the fear that a superficial repentance could secure a financial advantage for the accused. "To recognize mitigating circumstances for such a serious crime simply because, for purely personal gain and without the slightest real repentance, they simply said 'I was wrong,' would be a huge injustice."
And then the phrase that today sounds like a moral condemnation: "It would be another stab in the back for all of us."
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The Moniello family's lawyers had opposed the acquisition of the letter. The Court, before adjourning to the deliberation room, did not formally rule on the acquisition, but the outcome of the ruling is clear: the woman's appeal was denied.
Federica Sautto's anger is directed at the future of her three children, now orphans: "They have devastated the lives of our children, to whom I cannot and will never be able to explain one day, should 'these gentlemen' ever emerge, why they took their father away from them."
The murder of Luigi Izzo shocked Castel Volturno not only for its violence, but for the utter futility of its motive. It all began with a trivial argument outside a bar on Domiziana Street, involving Roberto Moniello and Izzo's brother. Luigi, the barber, intervened only to act as a peacemaker, a kind man who even offered to replace a pair of glasses broken during the altercation.
A peaceful gesture, however, unleashed a blind fury. Shortly afterward, as Izzo was returning home with his wife and mother-in-law, the Moniellos ambushed them. As soon as he got out of the car to open the gate, he was attacked.
The reconstruction of that morning is chilling: Alessandro Moniello inflicted the fatal stab wounds, while his son Roberto held the victim down and urged his father on. All this happened before Federica's terrified eyes. A nightmarish scene that today, after the appeal ruling, returns to haunt the Izzo family, leaving a sense of profound bitterness and unfulfilled justice.
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