by SYLVIA POGGIOLI
Already this year, 105 women in Italy have been killed by husbands or boyfriends –- present or former.
Vanessa Scialfa, 29, was killed by her partner in Sicily. Alessia Francesca Simonetta, 25, was pregnant when she was stabbed to death by her boyfriend in Milan. Carmella Petrucci, 17, was stabbed in the throat as she tried to defend her sister from her ex-boyfriend.
Police inspector Francesca Monaldi, who heads the gender crime unit in Rome, says the names and the cities change, but the stories are very similar.
“Murders of women take place mostly within the family, and mostly at the hands of former husbands or boyfriends. They also cross class lines and are committed just as often in rich families as in poorer ones,” Monaldi says.
Invisible Crimes
A U.N. report on domestic violence in Italy issued in June sounded the alarm, saying it’s the most pervasive form of violence and affects women across the country.
It also remains largely invisible. It’s estimated that more than 90 percent of victims of partner abuse do not report cases to the police.
A shelter for battered women in Rome is the new home of 47-year-old Anna Maria. It took this middle-class woman from Naples 29 years to find the courage to escape a violent and abusive marriage.
“At first I had to tell myself it was my destiny, my mission. You have to bow your head and bear it,” Anna Maria says.
From the day she was married, Anna Maria faced abuse. Her husband repeatedly beat her and forced her to work in the fields. She says she endured for the sake of her children ,and she had nowhere to go.
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