breaking latest news – The seventeen-year-old daughter of Giovanni Barreca, the bricklayer from Altavilla accused of having tortured and killed his wife Antonella Salomone and their two children aged 16 and 5 at the culmination of an exorcism ritual, was arrested on 14 February. The girl – who allegedly took part in the massacre, involved in the torture of her mother and her brothers aged 16 and 5 – was arrested on the orders of the juvenile prosecutor’s office led by Claudia Caramanna on charges of murder. The father and a couple of friends from Palermo who allegedly inspired the massacre out of pseudo-religious fury are in prison on the same charge. The investigating judge validated the arrest during the validation hearing which was held today.
The 17-year-old girl was also “involved in the situation of religious paroxysm”, said the Termini Imerese prosecutor, Ambrogio Cartosio, during the press conference called to illustrate the details of the triple murder. “The girl participated in a series of purification rites which specifically involved the torture of her mother and brother”, said the prosecutor who then, when asked about the girl’s state of mind, said that ” emotionally her disturbance is profound. She is a girl of uncommon intelligence and sensitivity.” As regards possible responsibilities regarding specific crimes of the girl, it is “an evaluation that is not up to us. These evaluations must be made by the prosecutor’s office for the minors to whom we have sent all the documents”, underlined Cartosio.
A chilling account
It was the prosecutor’s section of the state police at the prosecutor’s office for minors in Palermo, who executed the arrest decree of a crime suspect issued by the prosecutor’s office for minors against the 17-year-old. She is accused of multiple aggravated murder in conspiracy against her mother and her brothers, as well as concealing the body of her mother. The provision arose from the investigative activity carried out after the facts ascertained in Altavilla Milicia on 11 February.
Two days ago the minor appeared at the prosecutor’s office and before the prosecutor and personnel of the Pg Section of the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office, she reported the facts, revealing her full involvement. The minor was then interrogated and in the presence of the defender she reported what had happened in the previous days in her home, providing a chilling account, also regarding the torture inflicted on her mother and brothers, their atrocious suffering and agony until their death. . You also reported what happened after your mother’s death and therefore the circumstances relating to how they set fire to the body and subsequently buried her remains. The minor reported that in her home there had been, for years, “demons” believed to be responsible for certain events affecting members of her family and for the need to banish them. The minor was arrested and today the investigating judge validated the provision, establishing her detention in prison.
The Prosecutor: “Terrible tragedy and heartbreak”
“It is a terrible tragedy in which Antonella Salamone, Barreca’s wife, and her children Kevin and Emanuel aged 16 and 5 lost their lives. When we found ourselves at the scene of the tragedy for me it was one of the most touching moments of my life Seeing the corpses of a child and a young man in those conditions a few meters away is not a torment that can be described without getting emotional”, said the prosecutor of Termini Imerese, Ambrogio Cartosio
Barreca dominated by mystical delirium
“It is a family that lives in Altavilla Milicia, the father is a person who for years has lived what I would define as a mystical delirium and is dominated by a very heated religious fanaticism. This has weighed enormously on the family and above all on his children”, added the prosecutor. Regarding the involvement of other subjects in the triple murder of Altavilla Milicia, “we will try to understand it. We hope to have the support of the other judicial offices and other institutions to understand it”.
Spouses from Palermo present at the triple murder
“The two Palermo spouses were present at the time of the triple murder in the house in Altavilla Milicia” said Manfredi Lanza, deputy prosecutor of Termini Imerese. “We are awaiting the outcome of the autopsy of Antonella Salamone, wife of Giovanni Barreca, and of her two children – underlined the Termini Imerese prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio – so at the moment we do not know exactly the causes of death. However, we can say that the death of the three victims was caused by behavior carried out by Barreca and the two Palermo spouses who worked in the house for days”, he concluded.