Tavares gets 10 yrs for acid attack (4)

(ANSA) - Rimini, October 20 - Twenty-nine-year-old Cape Verde native Eddy Tavares on Friday got 10 years in jail for a January 10 acid attack on his former girlfriend, ex-model Gessica Notaro. Prosecutors had asked for twelve years. The judge in the case recognised the aggravating factors of premeditation, futile motives and cruelty.
    It also sentenced the Cape Verdian to pay damages of 230,000 euros to Notaro.
    The judge admitted as civil plaintiff with a provisional payment of 1,00 euros the Butterfly association, which combats violence against women and stalking.
    It also recognised the Romagna anti-violence group AUSL, while it did not admit the town council of Rimini or the Emilia-Romagna regional government.
    Notaro, 27, is a former Miss Italy finalist and model who worked with sea lions and dolphins at an aquarium in Rimini on Italy's Adriatic coast.
    Commenting on the sentence, she said "despite the harm that he did me, he's a person I was very much in love with, whom I really loved, and I can't quite hate him, but I can't forgive him, I won't forgive him.
    "What remains is just indifference".
    Two weeks after being disfigured by Tavares, Notaro posted a photo on Facebook to thank those that had supported her in these days.
    The photo showed her hands forming a heart shape and a part of the bandages that covered her face.
    "It is hard but I will make it with your help. I love you," she wrote.
    The police arrested Tavares, whose full name is Jorge Edson Tavares. Notaro had reportedly taken out a harassment order against Tavares after the pair broke up.
    In less than 24 hours, Notaro's post received over 2,000 'likes' and hundreds of messages of encouragement and solidarity.
    "Gessica would like to dedicate this heart to the doctors, nurses and all the staff of the Bufalini hospital in Cesena, and thank once again all the friends and people who send her greetings every day and are standing by her side," her agent, Mauro Catalini, added to the post.
    The injuries caused by the acid are improving but Notaro will have to undergo several operations to reconstruct her skin in the places affected the worst: her forehead and left temple and her left eye, which she cannot see well from now.