The policewoman killed, requests for new reports rejected

All requests for new expert reports made by the defense of Giampiero Gualandi, the former commander of the local police of Anzola dell'Emilia sentenced in the first instance to life imprisonment for the aggravated voluntary homicide of Sofia Stefani, the 33-year-old policewoman killed on 16 May 2024 with a gunshot, in the defendant's office, have been rejected.

The Assize Court of Appeal of Bologna, chaired by Domenico Stigliano, decided not to reopen the preliminary investigation, rejecting the five requests for investigations presented by the lawyers Lorenzo Valgimigli and Claudio Benenati. The defenders had requested new ballistic, psychiatric, genetic, dactyloscopic and medico-legal investigations, deeming them necessary to support the thesis of the accidental shooting during a scuffle.

The requests were opposed by the Attorney General's Office and the civil parties. The Court then ordered the continuation of the trial with the indictment of the prosecution. For Attorney General Ciro Cascone, who represents the public prosecution together with Deputy Attorney General Massimiliano Rossi, the point is to establish "whether there was malice or negligence" and "to understand whether the accused's version, which for us does not stand up, holds up".

During the indictment, Cascone also recalled the time that elapsed between the shot and the phone call to 118. According to the prosecution's reconstruction, Gualandi took 202 seconds, three minutes and 22 seconds to ask for help after Stefani had been hit and fallen to the ground. An interval that would contrast with what the accused represented in the courtroom.

The general prosecutor's office also underlined that Gualandi had taken the gun from the armored locker "without any service reason" and that the magazine was inserted in the weapon. A circumstance which, according to the prosecution, contradicts the explanation of the former commander, who had claimed to have taken the gun to clean it. “Gualandi had a lot to lose,” Cascone said. According to the magistrate, the former commander "had prepared the story to tell, which however was denied".

The prosecution also recalled the elements that the judges of first instance had interpreted as forms of manipulation towards the young colleague, including the promise to appoint her deputy commander if Gualandi returned to the helm of the local police. Cascone, however, clarified that the trial does not concern the moral judgment on the relationship between the two. "Gualandi was not convicted for that relationship, but for the murder of Sofia Stefani," he underlined. The victim's parents were also present in the courtroom.

The mother, Angela Querzè, also spoke of a "double manipulation", on a work and personal level, reiterating her belief that her daughter's death was "a feminicide". The indictment of the general prosecutor's office will continue on November 19, the day on which the interventions of the civil parties are also expected. December 10th will be the defense's turn and, according to the current calendar, the appeal sentence could arrive.