The preliminary hearing judge (gup) in Rimini has sentenced a 37-year-old Rimini restaurateur to four years in prison for striking a man in the face with a motorcycle helmet, an attack that left a Tunisian national in a coma on the evening of 13 July 2024 in Via Toscanelli. The victim had spent the preceding hours carrying out robberies, threats and assaults between Viserba and Rivabella.
Judge Alessandro Capodimonte reclassified the charge from attempted murder to aggravated bodily harm, departing from prosecutor Paola Bonetti’s request for a 13-year, 4-month sentence.
The defence, led by lawyer Giuliano Renzi, argued self-defence and announced: “We will appeal.”
The case stems from a night of violence along the seafront. Among those attacked by the Tunisian man was a Rimini lawyer, who was headbutted twice in the face in an attempt to steal his backpack and required hospital treatment, with a prognosis of 40 days.
For that episode, the North African man received a separate sentence of two years and two months through a fast-track trial, compared to the three years and four months sought by prosecutors.
The restaurateur, meanwhile, was having dinner with his young daughter when the man began harassing those nearby.
He called the emergency number 112 several times before approaching the man and striking him with the helmet, knocking him to the ground without offering assistance. The injured man spent over a month in intensive care at the Bufalini hospital in Cesena.
According to the defence, the 37-year-old acted out of fear, with no intention to kill. “He had already been robbed the day before inside his own restaurant and was psychologically shaken,” Renzi explained.
The defendant also claimed the Tunisian man was wielding a broken glass bottle, but the judge, based on security camera footage, found no movements indicating an attempted assault. The court ruled out attempted murder, found the defendant responsible for the injuries, and imposed a sentence without the possibility of a suspended sentence.
