A TEENAGE boy who stabbed his abusive dad to death to save his mum has been charged with murder, despite being praised by ministers for his actions. Alex Pompa, 18, has admitted killing his father Giuseppe Pompa, 52, by stabbing him 24 times while attempting to defend his mother from yet another assault. Investigators have […]
A TEENAGE boy who stabbed his abusive dad to death to save his mum has been charged with murder, despite being praised by ministers for his actions.
Alex Pompa, 18, has admitted killing his father Giuseppe Pompa, 52, by stabbing him 24 times while attempting to defend his mother from yet another assault.
Investigators have ascertained that the abuse from the father had been going on for years before the death of Pompa, in the municipality of Collegno, Italy, in April last year.
Giuseppe was an obsessively jealous man, they said, who would call his wife hundreds of times a day to check up on her.
On the night of the crime, Alex and his brother had sent a text message to their uncle seeking help because they feared more violence.
It read: “You are the only one who listens. You have to take drastic action.
“Here we all risk our lives.”
Later that night, as Alex feared his father Giuseppe would launch yet another violent attack against his wife, after alleging he had seen one of her co-workers put his hand on her shoulder.
He was manhandling her, and threw a phone at her face when Alex intervened to protect his mother.
The boy, who was 17 years old at the time, took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed his father repeatedly until he died.
Alex then called the police and gave himself in, admitting what he had done.
Initially, he was put under house arrest at his family home where the crime was committed, but the judges later determined that it would be too traumatic of a location for him.
One of Alex’ classmates offered to have him at their home under house arrest.
At his friend’s home, Alex managed to take his final exams with a score of 87 out of 100 and enrolled in university.
The Minister of Public Education at the time Lucia Azzolina, even phoned him to congratulate and support him.
Alex, who never denied the killing, will now go to trial after prosecutors confirmed they were pressing ahead.
The accusation he faces in the the Assize Court is voluntary murder with the aggravating circumstance of having acted against a family member.
The investigation was formally closed in a report and handed to prosecutors, who have filed charges.
The defence now has 20 days to make their appeal.
But even with possible mitigating circumstances, the young man still risks over 20 years in prison.
