Romanian shot to death while allegedly breaking into private residence in Italy. Owner arrested

A Romanian has been shot the death in a villa at the outskirts of Milan, Italy, where he broke in to steal. The owner of the house has been remanded for self-defence murder. Corriere della Sera reports the case and the judicial situation stirred harsh debates.

The incident occurred during the night of Monday to Tuesday in Vaprio D’Adda, Milan province.

Francesco Sicignano, a 65-year-old pensioner, was waken up by suspect noise, took a fire gun that he had bough after several thefts at his place and came out in the villa’s hall. He noticed a person in the dark and fired. Then he came out on the balcony and fired two rounds in the air after seeing several persons when escaping his house.

When he got back inside, he found the body of an unknown man and performed CPR, while calling for the carabineers.

Investigators established the trespasser was a 28-year-old Romanian citizen who had apparently broken in to commit a burglary. The Romanian’s accomplices managed to run and are searched by the Italian police.

Francesco Sicignani is living in that villa together with his wife, son, his daughter-in-law and his grandchildren. The Italian claims he bought a semi-automatic fire gun after his house had been broken into four times in the last months.

The carabineers confirmed the pensioner had been filed for a complaint for theft a year ago.

On the other, the case prompted new xenophobic stances in the Italian Peninsula. The “North Leagu” xenophobe party expressed its support for the Italian who fired, claiming the thief was to blame.

“The pensioner did well when firing in order to protect himself, the man had broken into his house, he asked for trouble,” the North League’s leader Matteo Salvini told La Reppublica daily.

“It’s abnormal that the pensioner should be prosecuted. We are talking about a burglar dead at his working place,” Salvini underlined.

The Romanian Ministry for Foreign Affairs retorted that the attempt of politicizing and singularization in this case is not acceptable, adding that justice must run its course, without the prejudgment of some politicians.