Geneticist Giorgio Portera,
who represents the family of Yara Gambirasio in the trial on the
13-year-old student's murder, testified on Wednesday that the
DNA found on her body belongs to the only defendant in the case,
Massimo Bossetti.
Portera's testimony backed the report presented by the
Carabinieri's RIS forensic unit at the trial, concluding that
"unknown 1" - the previously unnamed suspect in the 2010 murder
case - is in fact Bossetti.
The construction worker and father of three is on trial in
Bergamo following his arrest in 2014 after extensive DNA testing
of the local population as part of the probe tracked him down as
the biological son of a local bus driver, Giuseppe Guerinoni,
who died in 1999.
The geneticist said there was a 99.8% match between the DNA
of Guerinoni and Bossetti, establishing a "certain paternity".
The DNA of "unknown 1" was found on Yara and is the key
piece of evidence against Bossetti in the ongoing trial in
Bergamo.
The defendant has always maintained his innocence and his
defense team has questioned the evidence, claiming traces of
Bossetti's nuclear DNA found on the victim's body did not match
with mitochondrial DNA on her, which does not belong to the
defendant.
Portera on Wednesday testified that in no way can
mitochondrial DNA, which is read with a different genetic code,
"can be used for identification purposes".
He also disputed that nuclear and mitochondrial DNA tests
were carried out at different times, at the beginning and end of
2011 respectively, so variations could have occurred.
Geneticist Sarah Gino, who testified for Bossetti on
Wednesday, also said hair found on the victim did not be belong
to her or the defendant.
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