Gang Rape Accused, ‘I Apologize to the Women I Love’

(ANSA) – PALERMO, 17 SEPTEMBER – He apologizes “to the women I love, I feel guilty for having made mistakes with the women in my life, women of sound morality and Christian principles, I feel guilty for having betrayed the love and trust of my girlfriend and, despite this, she believed in me, I feel guilty with my mother and my sister, for having betrayed their affection”. This is the content of a letter made public during the last hearing (on 9 September but the news was learned today as the trial is behind closed doors) by Cristian Maronia, accused along with six other young people of gang rape at the Foro Italico in Palermo last year on a 19-year-old girl. One of the seven accused, a minor, was convicted in the first instance. The other six are on trial before the second criminal section of the Palermo court presided over by Roberto Murgia. “I have been accused – he added – of not having had repentance, my repentance is what I have just described, I have betrayed the honesty of the women I love, true repentance is pain and, this pain is not going away for me. That said, I have full faith in justice and, I hope that justice will be done for all those real victims who suffer these unspeakable acts day by day”. (ANSA).