CASAL DI PRINCIPE. “That date was supposed to bring justice, but it didn’t happen.” These are the words with which Nunzia Covelli, the mother of the 15-year-old victim of the road accident, Ciro Modugno, opens her letter to express her pain and anger following the latest legal event.
The date to which the woman refers is November 23, 2023, the day on which the Court of Cassation in Rome was supposed to issue the final sentence regarding the punishment to be served by the person responsible for Ciro’s death, the “golden angel” who on October 10, 2021, at 11 pm, while returning home on his scooter, was hit by a car whose 28-year-old driver was intoxicated and under the influence of drugs. The Court of Cassation has postponed the trial. Here is an excerpt from Nunzia’s open letter:
“After 2 long years, that day was supposed to put an end to everything. For 2 years, with the help of the people and associations, we have been fighting to give a voice to the victims of the road. Among them is my little Ciro, a boy of only 15 years old who, on October 10, 2021, was brutally run over by Pietro Capoluogo from Casal di Principe. November 23, 2023 did not bring justice to my child, it did not give dignity to the life of a boy who still had so many dreams to fulfill. I had so much faith in the State, so much so that at one of the first hearings they had given us hope for a glimmer of justice, even though for me justice is not sentencing a murderer, because that’s what it is, to only 7 years and 4 months. But November 23, 2023 shocked us all: immediate release and postponement of the appeal.
After this sentence, I can’t speak, I leave with tears in my eyes and asking forgiveness from my son. I can’t understand this. Why was this choice made? Maybe they want to reconsider the previous sentence? I want to hope for their good judgment and believe that they should reconsider the punishment, but only to intensify it, to make it harsher. In all this, they told me to wait 60 days for an answer. But how can I, as a mother, wait 60 days for an answer?
All I can do is apologize again to my beloved son Ciro Modugno and to all the victims of the road. These laws must change, otherwise more blood will be spilled on the asphalt. Nunzia Covelli, a mother condemned by grief.”
