A 52-year-old Italian
businessman who went missing last month and was found in an
Edinburgh hospital has been charged with violating his family
assistance obligations as concerns his three children under age
18.
Salvatore Mannino went missing from Lajatico near Pisa on
September 19 and was found apparently after losing his memory
the next day in Scotland.
He was identified by police only a few days ago but had been
admitted to Edinburgh general hospital after being found "in a
confused state" in the Scottish capital's St Giles Cathedral.
No ID documents were found with him.
On Tuesday evening Mannino, who now does not speak Italian
and only elementary English, was interrogated at length by
carabinieri.
After five hours that did not convince investigators, the
prosecutor's office put him under investigation.
Investigators found searches on his laptop of how to
disappear without a trace.
Mannino's story has not convinced his relatives or wife,
either, who is co-signatory of her husband's bank accounts -
which he had tried to close and move the money to other accounts
under her name only.
The businessman has not yet spoken about what happened to him
and how he got to Scotland and continues to speak to his wife
and doctors in English, saying that he doesn't remember
anything.
He seems to show no emotion towards his wife or eldest son,
the only one to visit him in these days.
Mannino continues to be hospitalized in the psychiatric ward
of a Pisa hospital. The doctors have not yet diagnosed his
condition and determined whether he is simply pretending or
whether he is suffering from some sort of pathology that led to
this amnesia.
His relatives and investigators believe that the man is
putting on an act and that he understands Italian perfectly
well. He seems to be embarrassed as the days pass but continues
to refuse to explain why he left or his lengthy stay in an
Edinburgh hospital without giving any clues to the Scottish
authorities.
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