Four young children between the ages of 11 and 13 have been arrested after allegedly running down a 71-year-old woman in a stolen car before fleeing the scene.
Cecilia De Astis, a widowed grandmother, was fatally hit by an out-of-control vehicle while walking in the Gratosoglio neighbourhood of Milan on Monday.
Local police officers have arrested four children on suspicion of vehicular homicide aggravated by failure to provide assistance. The suspected driver of the vehicle was 13. The four cannot be charged under Italian law, which sets criminal liability at 14.
Witnesses told local police that they saw at least two of the children run away to a nearby Roma camp after the crash.
It was at this illegal camp at Via Selvanesco, just two kilometres from the incident, where officers reportedly arrested the children.
The Citroën, which has a French number plate, skidded and crashed into the curb before striking the 71-year-old woman and launching her 10 metres. The vehicle then struck a nearby road sign.
The incident was witnessed by residents in nearby housing blocks and others onboard a tram.
Emergency services arrived at the scene to perform CPR, but De Astis’s heart stopped beating just as she arrived at Niguarda Hospital with the paramedics.
The driver of the vehicle was 13, two are 12, and the youngest of the group is an 11-year-old girl, reported La Stampa
Cecilia De Astis was walking in the Gratosoglio neighborhood in southern Milan on August 11 when she was fatally hit at high speed by a stolen car
Local police officers in Milan have arrested four children, all aged between 11 and 13
It comes after an influx of complaints from local residents about the illegal camp at Via Selvanesco, consisting of around five or six caravans.
‘The residents of Viale dei Missaglia and Viale delle Terrazze have been reporting an increase in petty thefts for a few months, which they attribute precisely to this new unauthorised settlement,’ said Natale Carapellese, president of Zone 5 of Milan.
Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini, called for the camp to be ‘cleared immediately’ and ‘razed to the ground’ following the death of 71-year-old De Astis in the car crash.
‘The Roma camp should be cleared immediately, then razed to the ground, after years of theft and violence, pseudo “parents” should be arrested, and parental rights should be revoked,’ the right-wing League party leader said.
He called on Milan’s mayor, Giuseppe Sala, to take action against the unauthorised camps, writing: ‘Mayor Sala and leftists, are you there??? A prayer for poor Cecilia.’
But the mayor hit back in response, saying it was ‘shameful to speculate on the death of a person in such terrible circumstances, especially by high-ranking government officials,’ reported La Repubblica.
The police are searching the homes of the suspects, analysing fingerprints in the vehicle, examining phone records, and reviewing other footage.
The jurisdiction will likely be transferred to the juvenile prosecutor’s office because the children arrested are under 14 – the age of criminal responsibility in Italy.
Witnesses told local police that they saw at least two of the children run away to a nearby Roma camp after the crash after they exited the out-of-control car
The Citroën, which has a French number plate, skidded and crashed into the curb before striking the 71-year-old woman
The victim, who turned 71 in June, was a resident of the Gratosoglio neighbourhood
The victim, who turned 71 in June, was a resident of the Gratosoglio neighbourhood.
The widow was originally from Puglia and worked as a textile worker at the Cederna cotton mill before retiring.
She had two sons, Gaetano and Filippo, who spoke to her the day before her death.
‘She was my second mother, we grew up together,’ her granddaughter told La Stampa. ‘She was a good woman. You can’t die like that.’
The stolen car was reportedly the property of a 20-year-old from Strasbourg, who was visiting Milan with three friends.
He had left the car parked on a street a kilometre and a half from the incident.
He and his friends went to visit the the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology, but when they returned to the car, it was gone.
On Sunday evening, he reported it stolen.
The stolen car was reportedly the property of a 20-year-old from Strasbourg, who was visiting Milan with three friends
The prosecutor on duty, Enrico Pavone, reportedly opened a case of vehicular homicide aggravated by failure to provide assistance.
Italian politician Attilio Fontana, the President of Lombardy, said: ‘A tragedy that cannot go unpunished.
‘Those responsible have been tracked: according to the first press reports they are all between 11 and 14 years old. Absurd.
‘They were stopped inside a Roma camp in Milan. Law enforcement are searching their homes.
‘Cecilia De Astis was run over by a stolen car thrown at full speed.
‘This is not an “accident”. It is the fruit of a chain of lawlessness, arrogance and impunity that starts from afar and can no longer be tolerated.’
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .