Two Young Women In Italy Were Murdered Within 48 Hours Of Each Other And People Are Demanding Justice
The two women’s murders sparked protests in Italy, with demonstrators calling for an end to violence against women.
Two young women in Italy were murdered within 48 hours of each other and people are demanding justice.
Sara Campanella, a 22-year-old biomedical student, was stabbed by a man at a bus stop in the Sicilian city of Messina during broad daylight on March 31.
The man, a fellow student later identified as 27-year-old Stefano Argentino, had persistently stalked her for two years, according to BBC.
Moments before the attack, Campanella had sent a message to her friends saying “that sick guy is following me,” the BBC reported.
Witnesses said that Stefano had walked up to Campanella and stabbed her on the street, and she had tried to get away and screamed "Stop it, let me go, stop it," before collapsing.
She later died on the way to the hospital.
Stefano then fled the scene but was arrested in a nearby town hours later and confessed to the murder, according to his lawyer, the Guardian reported.
Less than 48 hours later, on April 3, the body of 22-year-old Ilaria Sula, a statistics student at Sapienza University in Rome, was found in a suitcase in a forested area outside the capital.
Her former boyfriend, 23-year-old Mark Samson, has confessed to her murder, according to Italian media.
The two women’s murders sparked protests in Messina, Rome and other Italian cities, with demonstrators calling for an end to violence against women.
At least 11 women have been murdered in Italy since the beginning of 2025, and 113 women were murdered in 2024 in Italy, with 99 of them being killed by relatives, partners or ex-partners.
In March, the Italian government approved a draft law that introduced a legal definition of femicide — the killing of a woman due to her gender — in criminal law for the first time.
If passed, the bill would increase sentences for stalking, sexual violence and “revenge porn”, and committing femicide would be punishable by life in prison.
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