The courts written explanation of the motivation of the sentence, which has been viewed by ANSA, claims it came from the “understandably human motives that drove him to commit the crime”.
The motivation added that Montefusco “did not have a police record at 70 and would never have committed a crime of such gravity had he not been driven by the dire family dynamic that had developed over time”.
Montefusco shot his wife Gabriela Trandafir, 47, and her 22-year-old daughter Renata dead with a machine gun in the central town of Cavazzona di Castelfranco Emilia.
The court recognised the extenuating circumstances, ruling out, among others, premeditation and cruelty.
The attorney representing the family of the two victims, Barbara Iannuccelli, commented on the motivation of the sentence on Monday, saying her clients were stunned by it.
“The very young victim Renata Trandafir wanted to become a lawyer in order to be able to defend herself from the daily violence she and her mother had to endure,” she said.
“Today, she was spared the experience of having to understand why the merciless killer of two unprotected women could benefit from such benevolence.
“Generic extenuating circumstances sweeping away any aggravating circumstance for … human understanding,” she said, quoting the sentence’s motivation, “We are all navigating in a sea of strong disbelief.”
ANSA
