"I'll cure you," but the tumor wasn't there: fake doctor convicted for Angela Russo's death

Benevento – A four-year trial and twenty hearings reconstructed the events that led to the death of Angela Russo, 54. The Benevento Assize Court has convicted the man accused of treating the woman after presenting himself as a doctor, despite holding, as emerged during the trial, only the title of head masseur and lifeguard.

The sentence imposed is 11 years and 10 months of imprisonment for manslaughter. The defendant, represented by lawyer Carlo Taormina, was also sentenced to a lifelong ban from holding public office and a legal disqualification for the duration of his sentence.

The panel also set a provisional award of €10 for each civil party, deferring the full quantification of damages to the civil trial. The defendant is also responsible for the payment of legal costs.

The diagnosis that didn't exist

At the heart of the case is a diagnosis that, according to the trial, was completely unfounded. The man allegedly convinced Angela Russo that she had breast cancer, suggesting that it could be cured through alternative treatments.

“I’ll heal you,” he reportedly wrote to her in a message, initiating a therapeutic program that also included ozonized autohemotransfusions, i.e., invasive intravenous procedures.

The expert report ordered by the Prosecutor's Office later established a crucial element in reconstructing the facts: Angela Russo did not have any cancer. Therefore, the disease diagnosed by the fake doctor never existed.

The therapies and the woman's death

One of the most sensitive parts of the investigation and trial focused precisely on the nature of the treatments administered and the consequences that would result from them.

According to the prosecution's approach accepted by the Court, the procedures to which the woman was subjected were invasive and contributed to her death, determining the defendant's liability for manslaughter.

A story in which, according to the trial reconstruction, the victim's trust in the person presenting himself as a healthcare professional turned into a dramatic trap.

"Today we have reached the truth"

After the verdict was read, Cinzia Capone, the Russo family's attorney, poured out all the tension that had built up over the years of the trial.

"I believed in it, I put almost all my energy into this trial: sleepless nights and bouts of stomachache to build and demonstrate the most appropriate strategy," the lawyer said, commenting on the ruling. "Today we have reached the truth. Justice has truly been done."

Then my thoughts went to the victim's family, to Angela's mother and children.

"I owed it to the elderly mother dressed in black who had to endure the unnatural pain of outliving her own daughter," Capone added, recalling the woman's constant presence in the courtroom. "And I owed it to the two tender children of a young mother who died too soon."

This first-instance ruling marks the first full stop in a four-year legal case, but it leaves the procedural path for subsequent levels of proceedings open.