From the ANSA archives: the story of Guido Gianni

The President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella has signed three pardon decrees. Among these there is also the one concerning the jeweler Guido Gianni.

Eighteen years after the robbery in his jewelery shop in Nicolosi, which ended with two deaths, Gianni's sentence is shortened. The pardon erases three years and two months of a 12-year, four-month sentence for double murder and attempted murder. A story accompanied over the years by appeals, a petition from his wife and the support of the League.

HERE IS THE NEWS FROM ANSA OF 18 FEBRUARY 2008

JEWELER REACTS TO ROBBERY, 2 BANDITS DEAD AND 1 WOUNDED/ANSA

SHOOTS UNDER THREAT WITH WEAPON AND AFTER ASSUMPTION ON WIFE

''Legitimate defense'': for this reason the fifty-year-old trader Gianni Guido is said to have killed two bandits and injured a third who had beaten and threatened him and his wife, Mariangela Di Stefano, 44, with a gun, which later turned out to be a toy, in an attempted robbery at their jewelery shop, the 'Pierre Bonnet' in the central Corso Italia in Nicolosi. For the Carabinieri investigating, in fact, there are no doubts: 'there would be all the aspects of legitimate defence'' because whoever killed ''would have done so in a state of necessity'', even if, the investigators underline, ''everything will have to be examined by the judiciary''. The robbery attempt which upsets the tranquility of the Etna town, a few kilometers from the snow-covered Etna, takes place around 7pm. A young man, with his face uncovered, has the door of the jewelery shop opened by Mrs Di Stefano, but suddenly two other people enter with him. The three immediately disguise their faces with balaclavas. One holds a toy gun, but without the red cap, an identical copy of the original, complete with magazine, points it at the woman and attacks her, inviting her to open the safe. Gianni Guido, who is in the jewelery workshop, notices what has happened: he takes a legally owned 9x21 caliber pistol and runs to his wife's defense and, to intimidate the bandits, fires two shots in the air. But in response the robbers point the gun first at the throat of the woman and then the man, and attack them both by hitting them with slaps and punches. A fight ensues. And it is at that point that the trader fires at them: one shot hits the armed bandit in the chest, others, according to the police, ricochet, hit the two robbers, one in the shoulder, the other in the leg. The first two try to escape, to reach the Nissan Micra with which they arrived in Nicolosi, owned by one of them, but they travel a few meters and collapse. The first dies immediately, the second during transport to the Cannizzaro hospital. Their identities are not revealed due to ''investigative problems''. The third, Fabio Pappalardo, 30 years old, was blocked by the soldiers near the medical guard and taken to the Garibaldi hospital in Catania, but his life is not in danger. Mariangela Di Stefano was also admitted to a hospital in Catania, because she was in shock but also to have her facial wounds treated. The husband is instead taken to the police station to be heard by the deputy prosecutor Antonella Barrera who will evaluate his position. The mayor of Nicolosi describes the couple of traders as ''good people and hard workers'' and raises a ''security alarm'' in the town, asking for the activation of the public video surveillance system.