A tragedy abruptly interrupted the final stages of the high-profile trial in Tempio Pausania on Tuesday, where Ciro Grillo, son of M5s founder Beppe Grillo, and three friends stand accused of the gang rape of two young women in Costa Smeralda in the summer of 2019.
Before the hearing could begin, news spread that the 22-year-old son of the presiding judge, Marco Contu, had died in Rome the previous day after ending up on the tracks of the city’s Metro Line B. Police are investigating the possibility of suicide.
The news shocked the court. The faces of the two side judges, Marcella Pinna and Alessandro Cossu, were strained with emotion as they entered. A fierce controversy then erupted when the possibility of continuing with the defense’s final arguments and the verdict on Thursday, July 4th, was raised.
“It is unacceptable to think that a person, not just a magistrate, who has lost a child could serenely come to a hearing tomorrow to listen to anything, which compared to the death of his son is certainly nonsense,” thundered Alessandro Vaccaro, a lawyer for one of the defendants, Vittorio Lauria.
In response, the court’s deputy president, Caterina Interlandi, stated, “I was not present at the hearing, I am not part of the panel. I have nothing else to say. Do not look for useless controversy.” Judge Pinna had earlier noted in the courtroom, “The president [Interlandi] says we should proceed tomorrow: but tomorrow could be the funeral of this poor boy.”
Despite his profound loss, Presiding Judge Contu had initially indicated his readiness to oversee the hearing on the 4th. However, the unavailability of all parties for Thursday and the scheduled transfer of Judge Cossu to a new post in Asti forced the final hearing and verdict to be postponed to September 22nd.
The controversy did not subside. Enrico Aimi, a lay member of the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM), expressed his “deepest condolences” to Judge Contu and announced he would file a formal request for the CSM to open an inquiry into the handling of the matter. Condolences were also offered by prosecutor Gregorio Capasso and high-profile civil party lawyer Giulia Bongiorno.
Bongiorno stated that while she “appreciated the sense of duty of President Contu,” it was for that very reason the civil parties rejected the 24-hour delay. The four defendants were not in court on Tuesday, nor was the alleged victim, though she may choose to be present for the verdict in September.
Prosecutor Capasso has requested a nine-year prison sentence for all four Genoese defendants, whom he deemed “unreliable” for having “adapted their version [of events] according to the evidence.” The defenses, however, maintain their clients’ innocence, arguing the encounter was consensual and that the alleged victim is not credible.
One of Ciro Grillo’s lawyers, Ernesto Monteverde, concluded his defense by claiming, “What this girl says is never what she then does; she has a propensity not to tell the truth.” In stark contrast, lawyer Bongiorno described her client as “a survivor of violence but dead inside,” expressing hope for a verdict that “recognizes the correctness of this very difficult complaint and proves that the choice to report a crime in Italy still has meaning today.”