What is known about the Romanian accused of trying to kidnap a little girl from her mother's arms in Italy
Photo source: Bergamo News video capture
Italian authorities described Saturday's kidnapping attempt as an “extremely serious incident”.
The parents of the one-and-a-half-year-old girl told the Italian press that they did not expect such a gesture when they went shopping at the supermarket in Via Corridoni, in Bergamo, located northeast of Milan, in the Lombardy region.
The mother was holding her daughter, and the girl's father was next to them with the shopping cart. “There were a few moments of panic, we are very shocked,” the parents told police after the attacker was arrested.
The aggressor, a 47-year-old Romanian, without a fixed address, is in prison and is waiting to be questioned by investigators. “We didn't immediately realize the seriousness of the situation. We thought he wanted to hurt her,” the little girl's parents told Tg1, according to Corriere de la Serra.
What the witnesses say
The police now want to know why the man tried to take the girl away from her parents. The father says he initially thought the individual wanted to tie his shoelaces.
At the entrance to the shopping complex, the man grabbed the little girl's leg and lifted her up, while her mother tried to hold her by her side and did not let go of her hand. The father then pounced on the 47-year-old Romanian, who was charged with attempted kidnapping and bodily harm.
The Romanian was immobilized by the girl's father, helped by the supermarket security guards and other people who were shopping at the time. The witnesses said that the aggressor did not want to let go of the child.
What did the police find on the Romanian
The little girl ended up with a broken femur and the doctors had to put her leg in a cast. Her family says she is now smiling and playing despite the incident.
According to the media from the peninsula, the Romanian does not speak Italian well and did not say why he made this gesture. The police found his passport and five euros in his pocket.
He has no criminal record and no history of mental disorders. He recently arrived in Bergamo and a few days before the incident he was checked by the police at the guard room of a hospital in the city. The man was looking for a place to shelter and did not behave aggressively.
The man then requested to be taken back to the country in an ambulance.
