2,000 students, friends, gather at funeral for Loris

(See related) (ANSA) - Santa Croce Camerina, December 18 - As his father helped to carry the small white coffin bearing the body of Loris Stival, 8, into church for the child's funeral Thursday, a crowd of some 2,000 people including students and friends spilled outside.
    Davide Stivale was among the pallbearers at the town's church of St. John the Baptist, decorated with flowers, balloons and a stuffed animal.
    A very large floral display in the shape of a heart bearing the child's name was sent by Loris's mother, Veronica Panarello.
    She remained in police custody on suspicion of involvement in the boy's strangulation death on November 29 and her lawyer previously said she would not be released for the funeral. The funeral was to be presided over by the bishop of Ragusa, Monsignor Paolo Urso.
    Giovanna Campo, the principle of the school, said the procession would include elementary and middle-school students and teachers.
    A psychologist said the ceremony would help the students cope with the murder of a classmate.
    Franco Di Martino of Ragusa has been working with students since the murder and said he recommended children attend Loris's funeral "so that they could have awareness of this death and the loss of their school friend," he said.
    Mayor Franca Iurato said the funeral would hopefully restore some "peace and serenity" to the town that has been frightened by the events.
    Francesco Villardita, lawyer for Panarello, has said she continues to state her innocence but will not be permitted to leave jail for the funeral.
    Panarello reportedly sent a letter on Tuesday to her husband Davide Stival, claiming her innocence and questioning his support.
    "How can you believe I killed our child," she wrote in the letter seen by reporters and sent on the birthday of the couple's youngest child.
    "I feel alone and abandoned by all," wrote Panarello.
    Her father Francesco Panarello said that he believed in her innocence in the child's murder, calling Veronica "his princess". Prosecution documents seen by ANSA recently alleged that Panarello killed the boy "via strangulation with a plastic cable tie", and naming cruelty as an aggravating circumstance.
    The document also pointed to inconsistencies concerning Panarello's movements before and after she said she dropped Loris off at school the day of his death, adding that her account "clearly conflicts" with evidence provided by video surveillance cameras.