Why did Alika O. have to die?

The 39-year-old Nigerian, who came to Italy a decade ago, was beaten to death on Friday afternoon on a busy shopping street in Civitanova Marche, a seaside resort on the Adriatic coast in central Italy's Marche region.

Matthias Rub

Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta based in Rome.

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Aliko O. is survived by his wife, Charity O., who is also from Nigeria, and an eight-year-old son.

A ten-year-old niece is also part of the family, who moved to a town near Macerata in the Marche hinterland four years ago.

Some filmed what was happening

Several eyewitnesses followed the act, some filmed the event with their smartphones instead of intervening.

The alleged perpetrator, the 32-year-old Italian Franco F., was arrested a few minutes after the crime and has been in custody ever since.

The victim's body was taken to a clinic.

An autopsy will determine whether death was caused by beatings, suffocation, or some other cause.

To clarify the crime, the investigators evaluate both the cell phone recordings and the images recorded by surveillance cameras.

According to media reports, the fatal incident lasted around four minutes.

After that, the alleged perpetrator first hit the victim with his crutch, which Alika O. had been dependent on for about a year after a bicycle accident.

Franco F. then crouched down on the victim who was lying on the ground and called for help and hit Alika O. with his fists.

Finally, Franco F. let go of the lifeless victim and took his mobile phone lying on the ground.

Franco F. carried the phone with him when he was arrested.

At a press conference, a police spokesman essentially confirmed the media reports: “The attacker attacked the victim and first hit him with a crutch.

After the victim fell to the ground, the attacker ended the act by striking him repeatedly with his bare hands.” Eyewitnesses alerted the police after the suspect fled.

Debate about possible racist background

The act has caused great shock and a debate about a possible racist background in Italy.

According to the police, no racist motivation can be found in the perpetrator Franco F..

During the interrogation, the suspect is said to have stated that Alika O. had urgently asked him and his 45-year-old companion Elena D. for alms.

According to Elena D., she did not hear anything about the crime during the interrogation because Franco F. suddenly left a shop they had visited together and only returned minutes later covered in blood.

Franco F. has apparently stated to his public defender that he suffers from a bipolar and borderline disorder.

In Salerno, the hometown of the alleged perpetrator, Franco F. is said to have attracted attention several times because of "aggressive episodes", and a psychiatric report is said to have determined his illness.

While in several reports and media commentaries the racist background of the incident was presented as indubitable and the act as a "brutal murder", others denounced the instrumentalization of the act of a mentally ill person for political purposes, especially during election campaigns.

The leader of the Social Democrats, Enrico Letta, spoke of a "startling murder of outrageous cruelty" for which "there could be no justification".

The party leader of the right-wing national Lega Matteo Salvini said: "Security has no skin color and must be a right for everyone again."

Civitanova Marche Mayor Fabrizio Ciarapica met with widow Charity O. and other members of the Nigerian community on Saturday after hundreds demonstrated against the killing.

"I not only condemn the crime, but also the indifference," said Ciarapica, who belongs to the Christian Democratic party Forza Italia.

Above all, the fact that eyewitnesses followed the events for minutes and even filmed them instead of rushing to help the victim caused widespread outrage.

The newspaper "Corriere della Sera" quoted the widow Charity O. on Sunday as saying: "At that moment there were so many people in the place.

Why didn't anyone intervene?

Why didn't anyone help him?

Maybe my Alika would be alive now and could be with me.”