Nweke Chukwuka, a 37-year-old homeless Nigerian immigrant, was detained after being accused of beating Iris Setti, 61, to death in Italy.
Iris Setti was attacked on Saturday, August 5, 2023, at around 10:30 p.m. in Rovereto, Trento, when she was strolling through a public park in the city’s Santa Maria neighbourhood. The suspect was a Nigerian man living on the street.
The Nigerian may have been trying to rape the victim or possibly rob her, according to a report from the newspaper Il Giornale. It is also unknown whether the woman recognised the man.
What is evident is that she was severely beaten. According to witnesses, the man threw the woman to the ground before striking her in the face and head with his fists and probably a stone.
The culprit ran away from the scene but was quickly apprehended by Carabinieri officers, who had to halt him on the Via Maioliche and use their tasers to restrain and detain him.
The victim, who recently turned 61, was rushed to a nearby hospital, but due to the seriousness of her wounds, she passed away few hours later. Later, the Rovereto Public Prosecution filed a voluntary homicide accusation against Chukwuka.
Chukwuka is believed to be familiar with Italian police enforcement and has a history of violent behaviour, including an attack on parked cars and use of a broken bottle as a threat to unidentified individuals in August of last year, when he went on the rampage.
With League leader and Deputy rime Minister Matteo Salvini demanding to know why the Nigerian was even in the country, the case has strained relations between members of the ruling Italian coalition government led by Prime Minister Meloni. Salvini has asked Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi for clarification.
Salvini stated that since this murderer had previously been apprehended for violent behaviour, “we will ask to go all the way, as Minister Piantedosi has already rightly announced, to understand why such a thug was still at large.”