Palinuro, he killed the thief who shot him: acquitted for self-defense

Centola – He acted to save his own life while his home was being raided. The preliminary investigations judge of the Vallo della Lucania Court has put an end to the dramatic night of June 22, 2025, in Foria di Centola, definitively dismissing the charges of voluntary manslaughter and personal injury against Aurelio Valiante.

For the judiciary, there is no doubt: the shots fired by the Salerno businessman against the gang of robbers fall squarely within the scope of self-defense at home.

The shots in the garden and the decisive expertise

The story stems from the raid by a commando of three Albanian criminals on Valiante's villa. After stealing jewelry and a gun legally owned by the businessman, the three attempted to escape through the garden.

It was at that moment that one of the criminals opened fire on the homeowner. Valiante responded to the ambush with a hunting rifle: a lightning-fast firefight killed 26-year-old Rivaldo Rusi and wounded a second accomplice.

The ballistics tests ordered by the Prosecutor's Office made a difference in the judicial process. They reconstructed the exact sequence of events, confirming the man's account point by point: the reaction was contextual, necessary, and proportionate to the offense suffered.

Doubts and the shadow of concealment

While the case regarding the shooting ends with a finding of self-defense, the legal dispute over the handling of the emergency remains open. Valiante will face trial alongside his brother on charges of concealing a corpse. Immediately after the shots, in a panic, the two dragged Rusi's body into a ravine adjacent to the property.

Only later, after having called the police and initially reported only the wounding of a fugitive, did the businessman break down the wall of reticence, admitting to the killing and leading the soldiers in recovering the body.

The comparison with the Roggero case

The decision by the Vallo della Lucania Court is part of the delicate and perennial debate over the limits of self-defense, inevitably recalling the well-known and controversial case of Mario Roggero, the Piedmontese jeweler from Grinzane Cavour sentenced to 17 years in prison for the killing of two robbers in 2021.

While in that case the judges had identified a punitive and executive action—taken place on the street when the criminals no longer posed an immediate threat—Valiante's case instead identifies the "pure" case under the home defense law: the armed response occurred while the attack was still ongoing and the victim's life was directly at risk.

“A human drama that leaves bitterness”

"There is great satisfaction on a strictly legal level for the recognition of the truth, but there remains a profound human sadness," commented Antonello Natale, the businessman's lawyer. "The pain of the tragic loss of a young human life remains, and we extend our deepest and most sincere sympathy to his family."