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HOMELESS

Homeless Italian serves sentence on street

Domenico Codispoti was placed under house arrest in 2006. There was just one snag: he didn't have a home.

Homeless Italian serves sentence on street
Domenico Codispoti is under house arrest each day from 10pm until 7am. Photo: Wikicommons/Joxmai

Codispoti, 48, was put under house arrest for two years after a series of crimes including robbery, petty theft and drug dealing, Italian media reported.

Being homeless, he was condemned instead to a particular spot on Via Vittor Pasani, close to Milan's train station. The two-year sentence was soon extended to April 2014 after further run-ins with the police.

Officers check on him at 10pm each night, just as he’s snuggling into his sleeping bag, and then return for a wake-up call at 7am the next day, after which he is free to roam, Corriere della Sera said.

"I have always done my stealing at night," Codispiti is reported as saying.

"That's why the court gave me this sentence. Since I don't have a house, there was no other solution left. During the night I can't move.”

Codispoti reportedly asked to be placed in jail but his request was denied. His lawyer Andreas D’Amicis is trying to lift the measure, according to a report in Articolo Tre.

“My client should be in a home or in a community, at least with a roof over his head,"  D’Amicis said.

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