He is said to have followed her all the way to the police headquarters in Rimini, continuing to insult and threaten to kill her even after she had reached the safety of the police offices. This was the culmination, on 26 August, of an ordeal that led the Mobile Squad to arrest, in the act, a 40-year-old Italian man accused of stalking his ex-girlfriend.
The woman, frightened and fearing for her safety, had gone to the police station after being threatened and chased by her former partner. Officers immediately brought her to safety, while the man, initially held in the waiting room, allegedly continued hurling insults and threats.
The complaint and subsequent investigations by the Mobile Squad reportedly revealed a pattern of persecutory behaviour that had begun during the relationship itself, which started last April: jealous outbursts, insults, daily messages, stakeouts and pursuits. The woman also reportedly said she had been assaulted with kicks and punches, grabbed by the hair and dragged, in addition to having her car damaged.
The man’s repeated intrusions at her workplace allegedly even forced her to quit a previous job at a clothing shop. Police had already intervened on several occasions in recent months, with the incidents logged on the Scudo portal, which tracks gender-based violence and offences under the so-called Red Code law.
The final episode is said to have occurred on the very first day of a new job at a hotel in Rimini. After making numerous unanswered phone calls, the 40-year-old allegedly contacted the hotel directly, threatening both his ex-girlfriend and the receptionist, before showing up at the property himself. The woman managed to get away and reach the police station, with the man following her the entire way.
Even once inside police headquarters, the intimidation reportedly did not stop: the man allegedly kept sending her threatening messages and even photographs of the woman’s daughters, investigators say, in what appears to have been an attempt to terrorise her and dissuade her from filing a complaint.
After reconstructing the events through witness statements and an examination of audio, video and photographic material found on mobile phones, the Mobile Squad arrested the 40-year-old for stalking. He was transferred to Rimini prison, at the disposal of judicial authorities.
The suspect is presumed innocent until a final conviction, if any, is handed down.
