A Sicilian confessed to having killed his wife and their two sons,
“possessed by the demon”
according to him, a case marked by sectarian drift, a spokesperson for the carabinieri told AFP on Monday.
The triple murder occurred last week in Altavilla Milicia, near Palermo, as part of an
“exorcism”
session , the spokesperson said.
“Cast out Satan”
Giovanni Barreca, a 54-year-old mason, confessed before the carabinieri to having killed his wife Antonella Salamone, 41, and their sons Kevin, 16, and Emanuel, 5.
“I wanted to free them from the demon
,” explained this fervent evangelical during his arrest.
The 17-year-old eldest is the couple's only child to survive.
The mother's partly charred body was found half-buried in the garden of their house.
The bodies of the children found in their beds showed signs of strangulation.
According to the Italian press, the father regularly invoked on social networks the name of a self-proclaimed evangelical pastor from Puglia (south), very present on Facebook and TikTok where he claims to be capable of healing his faithful and
“chasing Satan »
.
The carabinieri are seeking to determine his possible role in the alleged murderer's act, as well as that of a couple of family friends, arrested and imprisoned, suspected, again according to the press, of having incited him to kill his loved ones.
This couple belongs to an evangelical community, which denounced on Monday
“the horror”
of the triple homicide.
“The evangelical community of Altavilla Milicia categorically distances itself from any form of violence
,” she assured in a press release.