Lucarelli jr and Apolloni: “Girl consenting. There was no violence”

“They gave their version reaffirming their innocence” and with regard to the heavy and vulgar sentences that emerged from the interceptions, “they spoke of the goliardic atmosphere of the evening, claiming that the girl was consenting”. Thus the lawyer Leonardo Cammarata, summarized the content of the guarantee interrogation made by Mattia Lucarelli and Federico Apolloni, Livorno footballers under house arrest since last Friday on charges of group sexual violence against an American student in Milan for an internship. The two boys told the investigating judge of Milan Sara Cipolla “that there was no violence”.

The interrogations

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The first to be questioned by the investigating judge was Lucarelli jr. The young man, who showed up on the seventh floor of the Palazzo di Giustizia in Milan accompanied by his father, entered the investigating judge’s room with the hood of the sweatshirt pulled over his face to hide from the cameras. After a couple of hours it was the friend’s turn, who also arrived with his father and brother, and who waited in the shaft of one of the stairs leading to the magistrate’s office. “The boys gave their version – Cammarata explained – and the prosecutor assured that he will carry out checks” on some elements they indicated. Including a video shot with the phone, which has been talked about for days, which would exonerate them but which was deleted by one of them to avoid trouble with his girlfriend. Among other things, the defender reported, the sentences recorded and found in their cell phones will be retranscribed as, according to him, there are unclear passages. “The two boys – added Cammarata – are sorry for their vulgar remarks, but they said that that evening the climate was goliardic and that the girl was always in agreement: `we joked with her and because she didn’t speak Italian we we are let go,´ they explained. However – continued the lawyer – they are aware of the seriousness of the matter which they are facing seriously. But they affirm that there was no gang violence”. The defense asked Judge Cipolla to revoke the precautionary measure for Lucarelli jr and Apolloni. The decision is expected in the next few hours and if it is a rejection it will be re-examined.

The complaint

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According to the investigation, coordinated by prosecutor Alessia Menegazzo and by the deputy Letizia Mannella, the alleged gang rape dates back to the night between 26 and 27 March last year after the American student, who was drunk, was allegedly approached by two and three other friends of theirs, outside the local Il Gattopardo. From there, according to the reconstruction, she was taken to Mattia Lucarelli’s luxury apartment and where she was allegedly raped and humiliated, as evidenced by the only audio-video traced in the boys’ mobile phones by the investigators of the Flying Squad.