The idea of her going home with someone else was unbearable. To the point of pushing him to make the crazy decision to stay hidden in the closet. From there she could hear everything. And in case his suspicions turned out to be true, he was ready for the massacre. But Sofia Castelli, 20 years old – who took one last photo of the pink sky that morning at dawn – was simply in the company of a friend. Yet this was not enough to distract Zakaria Atquaoui from those murderous thoughts. When he heard her talk about boys, he had the confirmation that he had to kill her and waited for her to fall asleep before delivering those fatal stab wounds. A premeditated crime therefore, according to the Monza prosecutor’s office, which disputes the aggravating circumstance of the 23-year-old Italian-Moroccan, who confessed to the murder that took place in Cologno Monzese, in the province of Milan.
THE DYNAMICS
Zakaria’s story at the first interrogation, later also confirmed by forensic investigations, begins on Friday morning, when he showed up at his ex-girlfriend’s house to bring her a sweet. Sofia had left him for two weeks, after about three years of relationship, with the lockdowns spent together and a long period of coexistence in the same house where the murder then took place. The 23-year-old didn’t resign, he couldn’t accept her breakup and even that day he had met her with the hope of winning her back. Stealing a set of keys hanging on a wall, the young man then left with one certainty: that evening Sofia would return from the disco with another man. While the victim was dancing, he decided to sneak into her home which she knew was free, as the student’s parents and little brother were on holiday in Sardinia. He took a knife from the kitchen and hid in the closet, ready to ambush her.
THE CONFESSION
“I was jealous – he explained in front of the investigators – and I was convinced that she could have another one”. Hearing the two friends talk in the early hours of the morning after the evening, he got “angry” and decided to act. Stabbed in the throat, the girl would have had “a minimal reaction”, while her friend did not notice anything. Still in shock, Sofia’s age was sleeping in another room and remained unaware of everything until the carabinieri showed up at the door of the house in via Roma. Zackaria, at that hour, had just confessed to the murder. With bloodstained clothes and a shocked expression on her face, she had already told everything to a local police patrol who had approached him. “I killed her,” she had said.
THE TESTS
The investigators are working on the victim’s cell phone, which will be analyzed to clarify whether there was any contact between the two on Friday afternoon and during the following night. The hearing to validate the detention, however, has been set for today. There are still many aspects to be clarified in the chilling story and further answers – for example if the student died immediately or if she tried to defend herself in some way – could be provided by the autopsy on the girl’s body, already ordered by the prosecutor Brianza. The video surveillance cameras in the area, on the other hand, will exactly ascertain the young man’s movements, clarifying what time he showed up at the victim’s home and when he left.
Tomorrow evening there will be a torchlight vigil in memory of the 20-year-old, organized by the Municipality of Cologno Monzese, in the eastern hinterland of Milan. The procession will start from the administration building and will arrive as far as via Roma, in front of number 100, where Sofia was killed. There, those who “knew her and loved her” will be able to read messages of condolence and share memories. An event wanted by the community, “to show closeness to her relatives and unite in the memory of the girl”.
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on Il Mattino