An Italian policeman who shot dead a Lazio fan last weekend is set to be charged with murder, his lawyer says. Police had said Sunday's shooting of Gabriele Sandri, 26, by the officer was a "tragic accident". There had been expectations he could face a manslaughter case but the policeman's lawyer said on Thursday a murder charge was being prepared. Mr Sandri's death sparked widespread fan riots across Italy which left 40 policemen injured. Mr Sandri, a disc jockey, was hit by a bullet in the neck in the Tuscan city of Arezzo as he sat in a car while police tried to stop fighting between Lazio and Juventus followers. 'Unforgivable act' The policeman, named in the Italian media as Luigi Spaccarotella, has said his gun went off as he ran to stop a brawl between rival supporters. He told the newspaper Corriere della Sera earlier this week that he fired his pistol by accident more than 200m (660ft) away from Mr Sandri. His lawyer Francesco Molino vowed to robustly defend any criminal charges. But chief prosecutor of the Arezzo jurisdiction Ennio Di Cicco was quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sporto as saying: "This traffic policeman fired the shot at the height of a human being, that is a certified fact. "We don't know the motives but whatever they are it's an unforgivable act." The latest development came a day after hundreds of people, including rival fans, attended the funeral of Mr Sandri in Rome. In April, the government introduced a law designed to stamp out football hooliganism following the death of a policeman in rioting at a match in Sicily in February.
Is this fella been the fall guy for what was going on in Italy for a long time? Surly if it was an accident would he not be charged with man slaughter ?
Now bear with me because I'm not saying that this is what happened. But if you fire your gun into a crowd of people then you are guilty of murder if someone dies. You should have known that there was a high risk of someone being injured
Don't want to split hairs with you Yoko but I'm afraid it's not necessarily murder to do what you suggest. Murder is a subjectively intentional act that results in the unlawful killing of some person whether it was intended to kill the person who was killed or not in the Irish criminal code anyway and I suspect the Italian situation is not much different although I don't know. The usual stumbling block in securing a conviction for murder is proof of that subjective intention, that is one reason why many cases reported through the media which to the public eye look like murder end up as manslaughter charges / convictions.
Sorry Yoda - in this case the "mens rea" element or the intention to kill means that if somebody shoots into a crowd of people - he should have known it was likely to kill. Proving that the act of firing was intentional is enough to prove intent. Many cases have been decided as such. We don't know enough about this case however so speculation is just that
Sorry Yoko - should have known or ought to have known is insufficient to prove intent, it may support recklessness but not intention. Of course you're right we are only speculating but it's an interesting chat
think the policeman actually said he let off two shots one into the sky to frighten the crowd and then the second shot went off accidentially, which subsiquently hit the poor young fan. it cant be murder because he didnt intend to cause any harm
Pedant Ah what I mean is the mens rea is satisfied even if the intent isn't to specifically kill the person!!
You are of course correct & s4 so prescribes, the required mens rea is intention to kill any person whether the person actually killed or not. Now that we've found a common ground we can stop showing off...
But in this case, the officer in question claims it was a accidental discharge, in that he fired one warning shot into the air, the crowd then charged his position, he retreated without applying his safety catch, while running with his finger still on the the trigger he accidentaly discharged one more round which hit the man who died. If a charge of murder is brought against him it must be the intention of the Italian prosecutor to being a charge that cannot be proven and subsequently clear the officer completely.
Can't see how this could be treated as murder. It was clearly not intentional. Any reasonable jury would reject that (unless it is a bunch of Lazio fans). It should be manslaughter in my opinion