The remains later found in the garden of the villa in Traversetolo (Parma) where the body of a newborn was found on August 9 belong to a second child, also delivered around the 40th week, but dating back more than a year. The DNA test will also be carried out on these remains, the same ones that allowed the mother of the first to be found, a 22-year-old student investigated for the death of the first newborn found buried lifeless in a space in front of her house. The young woman, now charged with voluntary manslaughter and concealment of a corpse, had not told anyone about her pregnancy. Even the family and the father of the child, also 22, were allegedly in the dark about everything. This is what the Parma prosecutor Alfonso D'Avino maintains, according to whom the young woman also had to give birth alone at home, without any help from doctors or gynecologists. In the statement, the prosecutor writes that “the separation between the parents and the child's father can be considered established.” “No one, except the girl, was aware of the pregnancy: neither family members, nor the child's father, nor friends,” the prosecutor writes. It adds: “She was not followed by any professional figure. The birth took place at the family home, outside of a hospital setting.”
22-Year-Old Boyfriend's Mother: 'She Couldn't Have Done It All Alone'
“She couldn't have done it all alone, it's not possible.” This is what Mrs. Sonia, the mother of the boy who would later become the father of the newborn found dead in the garden of a semi-detached house in Traversetolo (Parma) said. The young man was considered not to be involved in the events. The woman works in a bar and today, between a coffee and a sandwich, she answers dozens and dozens of phone calls. She cannot accept what happened but she is “relieved” by the statement from the Parma prosecutor's office. “I am relieved – she told ANSA – but no one can take the rest away from me.” Her son, the same age as the child's mother, is “devastated”. Moreover.” He did not confide in himself. “They have known each other since they were in primary school, they were together, we saw her two days before August 9 (the date of the discovery of the body).” The circle of friends and acquaintances is the same, the tour is always the same. How could they not have realized that she was pregnant? “I assure you that it was not possible, she walked all summer with her belly exposed. But we will see, she could not have done it alone.” After the announcement of the macabre discovery, she and her family tried to contact the boy's family, says his mother, “but I did not want to have contact, I do not want to see them anymore.” “But she could not have done it alone, it is not possible.”
File opened for violation of official secrecy
Following the news of the discovery of a second newborn in Traversetolo, first reported by the Quarto Grado programme, the Parma prosecutor's office stated that “this must be considered true but, on this point, all necessary investigations must be carried out, particularly on a technical forensic basis, to trace the exact contours of the event itself, and even the time frame”. Given “the extreme sensitivity of this new episode”, the prosecutor's office further explained, “a file has been opened for a possible violation of the confidentiality of the investigation” in relation to the dissemination of the information in question, which “risks affecting the results of the investigation in progress”.
“We want to avoid the media circus”
But why, when some information appeared on television and in the newspapers, has the Prosecutor's Office not ruled until today? Because the Parma prosecutor, D'Avino, wanted to avoid the “media circus”. “The presumption of innocence was the concern of the Parma Prosecutor's Office, because it is strictly linked, never more than in this judicial case, to the secrecy of the investigation. If, in an objectively serious event such as the confirmed death of a newborn, the Prosecutor's Office had chosen the line of free and constant communication, such a powerful spotlight would have been focused on the protagonists of the case that it would have triggered what communication experts define as a media circus, which is exactly the opposite of that presumption of innocence that we wanted to guarantee; the media trial that would have been opened would have had far more devastating effects on those involved than the judicial process. And on the contrary, precisely in accordance with the regulatory provisions mentioned in the introduction, we wanted to guarantee to all those who, in various capacities, are involved in the case, the necessary tranquility to face the various stages that such a delicate investigation requires, and continues to request, avoiding exposing them to the headquarters of laptops, cameras, microphones, as unfortunately happens in such cases. Daily experience, in fact, tells us of real parallel processes that are celebrated, especially on television, with the real risk of creating overlaps and interferences between the media process and the judicial process”, D'Avino specified. The prosecutor emphasizes that “public opinion will be informed of this soon, when the investigative work has reached a point where there will no longer be any need to fear the negative repercussions deriving from the frenetic circulation of information on the matter”.
Discovery and DNA testing of the remains of the second newborn
In the meantime, investigations are continuing into the second newborn found dead. The first, in fact, was found on August 9. The DNA test then confirmed that it was the couple's son, aged 22. As for the second body, identified later, the shadow of a confession and DNA results looms. In the meantime, the 22-year-old young man is therefore the subject of an investigation for voluntary homicide and concealment of a corpse for the first of the two newborns found.
Cover photo: ANSA/ELISABETTA BARACCHI
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