Italians debated on Sunday whether a Nigerian street vendor could have been saved from a deadly attack by an enraged Italian that happened in public as bystanders watched. The mourners left flowers and banners denouncing the violence and indifference of the people who were nearby. On Saturday, as people walked through a bustling shopping street in Civitanova Marche, an Italian city on the Adriatic Sea, Alika Ogorchukwu, 39, died after being beaten.
“A four-minute horror,” headlined the daily Corriere della Sera, noting that other Nigerian immigrants in the city have denounced the indifference and racism seen in the incident. Video footage of the attack has circulated on the internet.
A judge will decide on Monday whether the alleged attacker, identified by police as Filippo Claudio Giuseppe Ferlazzo, 32, should remain in prison during the investigation.
Police investigator Matteo Luconi said the suspect lashed out at the vendor after Ogorchukwu “insistently” asked him and his female companion for coins. The slain man’s lawyer said he was attacked after paying the woman a compliment.
The autopsy will help determine if Ogorchukwu died from the beating or if he was possibly strangled while lying on his back.