Italy: three teenagers convicted of murdering a nun in a staged satanic ritual

Proceedings

1. 2001-08-09 · convictions; one acquittal reversed on appeal

   Juvenile court, Milan; Court of Appeal. On 9 August 2001 the Milan juvenile court convicted Veronica Pietrobelli and Milena De Giambattista of the murder of Sister Maria Laura Mainetti, stabbed nineteen times in June 2000 after being lured to a meeting by a false appeal for counselling over a claimed rape and pregnancy; the girls told investigators the killing was staged around satanic numerology. Ambra Gianasso was initially acquitted, and that acquittal was reversed on appeal in April 2002, drawing twelve and a half years; sentences ranged from eight and a half to twelve and a half years.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• the victim lured by a false appeal for counselling over a claimed rape and pregnancy
• the killing staged around satanic '666' numerology