A 13-year-old girl was raped by seven people on January 30th at Villa Bellini in Catania.
The District and Juvenile Prosecutor's Offices have already ordered and had the Carabinieri arrest seven suspects: initially six, because a seventh had remained untraceable.
They would all be Egyptians and three of them would not be adults, including the untraceable one.
The seventh arrested is one of three minors under investigation found in the community where he was staying while recovering some personal effects.
According to investigators, he was about to flee in an attempt to cover his tracks.
In carrying out the arrests, the Carabinieri took three adults to prison and one to house arrest and the three minors to a precautionary first reception centre.
The seven suspects, we read in a joint note from the Catania district and minors prosecutor's offices, had "entered Italy as minors and, by virtue of current legislation, were welcomed into structures; in fact, due to their minor age, the ban applies of expulsion with the possibility of the competent Police Headquarters issuing a residence permit until reaching the age of majority".
"At the end of an uninterrupted investigative effort - it is underlined in the press release - the Carabinieri managed to close the circle around those responsible in less than 48 hours. From early yesterday afternoon, in close coordination with the two Prosecutor's Offices, it was therefore the blitz was launched, which lasted until the first light of dawn this morning, which made it possible to capture the seven suspects, the last of whom was tracked down after an initial escape, including the two perpetrators of the sexual violence, both minors".
"In this regard - explain the two prosecutors - the aspect of scientific investigations was absolutely relevant. Specialized personnel from the Provincial Carabinieri Command of Catania were in fact able, through a meticulous study of the forensic traces, to identify the relevant biological traces in less than 24 hours to the violence, traces which, analyzed in just a few hours by the Messina RIS, returned a positive "match" coinciding with that of the minor who physically raped the 13-year-old".
The girl was allegedly raped in the public toilets of the gardens by two of the suspects while the other five looked on.
The 13-year-old was with her 17-year-old boyfriend who was threatened, blocked and kept away.
Investigations have been ordered
on the cell phones seized
from the suspects.
Contacts and any videos are searched on their smartphones and to ascertain which 'cell phone' they were connected to when the attack occurred.
The images recorded by the surveillance systems present in the municipal garden and in the external area, including those of private individuals, will also be included in the documents of the two investigations.
Carabinieri from the Investigative Unit and the Scientific Investigations Section also collected various biological traces to be then compared with the DNA of the suspects.
After the violence, the girl was helped by some passers-by: she was on the ground in pain and shock, with her boyfriend next to her, also in tears.
Those who noticed them and provided the first aid were passers-by on the busy Via Etnea, which in recent days was also crowded with devotees of Sant'Agata, the patron saint of Catania.
Passers-by called the Carabinieri who intervened to start the investigation.
Two investigations
were opened
and arrests were issued by the District Prosecutor's Office, with the deputy prosecutor Sebastiano Ardita and the deputy Anna Trinchillo, and by the one for minors, directed by the prosecutor Carla Santocono.
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