A young Italian man got 12
years in jail Wednesday for setting fire to his girlfriend in
the eastern Sicilian coastal city of Messina a year ago.
Alessio Mantineo was found guilty of deliberately torching
Ylenia Bonavera, who suffered severe burns.
Mantineo, 24, was convicted despite 22-year-old Bonavera's
testimony that it wasn't him who set her on fire.
On November 22 she testified that, although she had said her
former boyfriend set her on fire on her doorstep in January, she
wished to retracted her statement in court, saying it
wasn't him who poured petrol on her and lit it.
A preliminary hearings judge ordered further investigations
after Bonavera's testimony.
Bonavera told neighbours on the night of the attack in
Messina on January 7-8 that Mantineo attacked her.
He was arrested after statements from witnesses and on the
basis of CCTV footage showing him buying a canister of petrol
from an automatic dispenser.
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