The parents of a thirteen-year-old boy who is suspected of killing a tourist by throwing a statue from a balcony in Naples could end up in prison because of that tragedy.
The incident happened on September 15, 2024, when the boy allegedly took an onyx statuette weighing about two kilograms and threw it from the balcony of a hotel in the Spanish Quarter. Prada store manager in Paris, Chiara Jaconis, who came to Naples to celebrate her 30th birthday, was walking through the city right in front of her boyfriend Livio Rousseau when the object hit her in the head.
The disturbing video shows Rousseau running and calling for help. Unfortunately, the woman suffered severe brain injuries and died in hospital two days later. Investigators believe that the object fell from a height of about ten meters and, due to the force of the impact, broke into pieces upon contact with the ground.
Since in Italy criminal responsibility begins at the age of 14, prosecutors turned to the boy’s parents and charged them with manslaughter because they “should have supervised the boy” before the incident. Part of the indictment is based on the boy’s alleged tendency to throw objects from high places – the “problematic” boy, as prosecutors describe him, allegedly threw clothespins, a remote control and a tablet from the balcony before. About 15 months before Jaconis’ death, the boy’s mother confided in a caregiver that she was worried the boy might throw more objects from the balcony, the report says NY Post.
The parents, aged 65 and 54, deny any responsibility. Their lawyer claims that the statuette was not their property and that “they have nothing to answer for”. The boy’s parents even asked for the criminal proceedings against their son to be reopened, so that he could prove his innocence in court, instead of being acquitted solely because of his age.
Regardless of who ultimately sits on the dock for Jaconis’ death, her father Gianfranco Jaconis called possible manslaughter charges against the boy’s parents “a step in the right direction.” A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 26, at which it will be decided whether the case will go to trial, reports Dnevnik.hr.
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