Indictment asked neighbour hammer murder

(ANSA) - Milan, October 9 - Milan prosecutors on Friday requested fast-track murder indictments for a warehouseman and his son on charges they stabbed and beat their downstairs neighbour to death with a hammer because he repeatedly complained about a crying infant and a barking dog. Gaetano Teofilo, 46, and his 18-year-old son Mattia allegedly killed Stefano Epis, whose body was found March 13 in his apartment in Milan.
    Prosecutors say Teofilo and his son used a hammer and a flick knife to silence Epis definitively after he screamed insults at them for two hours through a flimsy bathroom wall. The father and son confessed to the murder when arrested March 20. Mattia Teofilo subsequently retracted his confession, saying he was asleep at the time of the murder. His father then claimed to have acted alone.
    Both are charged with murder aggravated by cruelty and futile motives. Under Italy's fast-track trial procedure, defendants get their sentences reduced by a third if found guilty.