An Italian court has sentenced a migrant who filmed himself sexually abusing a woman he had given drugs to, and who later died of an overdose, to five years in prison.
The 43-year-old man said to be from South America, was sentenced by the Court of Appeal of Perugia to five years and four months in prison for the sexual abuse, rape, and killing of a 27-year-old mother, originally from Ecuador.
The incident took place in April 2021 and saw the pair attend a party that included other migrants from South America in a local apartment in Puglia owned by the 43-year-old.
The 43-year-old is said to have provided guests with not only alcohol but also provided them with cocaine and heroin, which the victim mixed together, the newspaper Il Giornalereports.
At some point during the evening, the 43-year-old took advantage of the victim, raping her and filmed the ordeal with his mobile phone. The party ended later on when the woman was found dead of an apparent overdose due to mixing drugs with alcohol and police arrived at the scene.
Investigators were able to determine the cause of death after a toxicology report and pieced together what happened from witnesses and video surveillance, arresting the 43-year-old.
The case echoes similar cases in Italy in which a woman has been drugged, sexually abused and later died due to an overdose.
In 2018, Italian teenager Desirée Mariottini was found dead in Rome’s San Lorenzo area, abandoned in an area known for drug dealing. It was later revealed that the 16-year-old had been supplied drugs by several migrants who took turns raping her and that the cocktail of drugs given was likely purposely a lethal dose. Three migrant men, a Nigerian and two Senegalese men were later arrested in the case.