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CRIME

Italy court gives American woman’s killer 30 years

A Senegalese man was on Thursday sentenced to 30 years in prison for the murder of Ashley Olsen, an American found naked and strangled in her flat in Florence, Italy in January.

Published: 22 December 2016 16:43 CET
Italy court gives American woman's killer 30 years
Police officers outside Ashley Olsen's flat. Photo: AFP

Tidiane Cheik Diaw, 27, an illegal immigrant who had met Olsen in a nightclub hours before her death, was convicted of homicide.

The judge rejected the prosecution's request for the charge to be considered as having been aggravated by acts of cruelty.

Diaw, who can appeal against the verdict at least once, was arrested on January 14th, five days after the discovery of Olsen's body.

The prosecution matched his DNA to traces recovered from the dead women and from a condom and a cigarette butt found in the flat.

A post-mortem concluded that Olsen, 35, died as a result of strangling but she also suffered a double fracture of the skull.

The prosecution's case was that the couple had fought after having consensual sex.

An artist and event organizer, Olsen had been living in Florence for several years and was a well known figure in the American expatriate community in the Tuscan city.

She had moved from her native Florida to be close to her art teacher father Walter Olsen and was regularly seen around the city's historic centre with her pet beagle.

Just after her death, friends depicted a vivacious and fun-loving character while her father voiced his heartbreak at losing “a beautiful and creative young woman with a happy, exuberant and generous soul, who loved her life in Florence.”

Olsen's family were in court on Thursday to hear the verdict.

POLITICS

Italy’s Liguria regional president arrested in corruption probe

The president of Italy's northwest Liguria region and the ex-head of Genoa's port were among 10 arrested on Tuesday in a sweeping anti-corruption investigation which also targeted officials for alleged mafia ties.

Published: 7 May 2024 12:52 CEST
Italy's Liguria regional president arrested in corruption probe

Liguria President Giovanni Toti, a right-wing former MEP who was close to late prime minister Silvio Berlusconi but is no longer party aligned, was placed under house arrest, Genoa prosecutors said in a statement.

The 55-year-old is accused of having accepted 74,100 euros in funds for his election campaign between December 2021 and March 2023 from prominent local businessmen, Aldo Spinelli and his son Roberto Spinelli, in return for various favours.

These allegedly included seeking to privatise a public beach and speeding up the renewal for 30 years of the lease of a Genoa port terminal to a Spinelli family-controlled company, which was approved in December 2021.

A total of 10 people were targeted in the probe, also including Paolo Emilio Signorini, who stepped down last year as head of the Genoa Port Authority, one of the largest in Italy. He was being held in jail on Tuesday.

He is accused of having accepted from Aldo Spinelli benefits including cash, 22 stays in a luxury hotel in Monte Carlo – complete with casino chips, massages and beauty treatments – and luxury items including a 7,200-euro Cartier bracelet.

The ex-port boss, who went on to lead energy group Iren, was also promised a 300,000-euro-a-year job when his tenure expires, prosecutors said.

In return, Signorini was said to have granted Aldo Spinelli favours including also working to speed up the renewal of the family’s port concession.

The Spinellis are themselves accused of corruption, with Aldo – an ex-president of the Genoa and Livorno football clubs – placed under house arrest and his son Roberto temporarily banned from conducting business dealings.

In a separate strand of the investigation, Toti’s chief of staff, Matteo Cozzani, was placed under house arrest accused of “electoral corruption” which facilitated the activities of Sicily’s Cosa Nostra Mafia.

As regional coordinator during local elections in 2020, he was accused of promising jobs and public housing in return for the votes of at least 400 Sicilian residents of Genoa.

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