“Land I kindly ask you not to scold me. I thought that the milk in the bottle that I had left at home for her was enough”. He responded like this, in the courtroom in Milan, Alessia Pifferi37 years old, in the trial in which she is accused of voluntary homicide aggravated by the premeditation of the 18 month old daughter Diana. Little her died of starvation after being left at home alone for six days.
Diana Pifferi’s mother, who died of starvation at 18 months old, is in court, accused of voluntary homicide
During the hearing in the Court of Assizes in Milan, the prosecutor Francesco de Tommasi asked her if she was aware of the consequences of the prolonged fast. «I found my daughter in the cot. It was morning, but I don’t remember the time. I immediately went to my daughter, caressed her and I understood that he wasn’t moving because he wasn’t playing like the other times». Diana «was not cold, I tried to resuscitate her, I gave her cardiac massage, I took her to the bathroom to wet her feet, hands, face and head to try to get her to recover. The diaper was on the bed,” Pifferi said.
«I went to my neighbor, but there was no one in the courtyard so I went in front of my house. I told her I needed help. She immediately saw the little girl, I panicked, I trembled, I started crying. I called 118 and D’Ambrosio, but he didn’t come”, added the woman, referring to the man she was seeing at the time. «I had told my neighbor that I had left Diana with a babysitter because I was in shock. I panicked».
“I looked after her like a mother looks after a child: I fed her, I changed her, if she was ill I contacted the hospital, I raised her, I gave her food and drink to survive,” added Pifferi.
From bathroom birth to death: Diana’s short life in her mother’s words
In her testimony she recounted the birth of the little girl: the birth, in the bathroom of the apartment of her then partner. A man I met on a dating site. «Diana was born suddenly on January 29, 2021, I didn’t know I was pregnant, she was born premature. She was in an incubator for a month and a half at Bergamo hospital, nIt wasn’t easy being a single mother, but I had no problem accepting it», the tone is monotonous, the meaning of the words gives you chills, especially in light of how this little girl’s life ended on July 20, 2022.
Alessia Pifferi before the Court of Assizes of Milan in the trial in which she is accused of the multi-aggravated voluntary homicide of her 18-month-old daughter Diana, who died of starvation after being left at home alone for six days, Milan, 19 September 2023. ANSA / ALANEWS
“I also told my mother that I was pregnant and that I didn’t know who the father was, to this day I still don’t know who he is.” For her ex-partner “the little girl was a hindrance, she said that she loved her but it wasn’t true”.
«I used to go to him on weekends. The first few times I brought it, while other times I left it with this friend who couldn’t be found. I left her alone very few times. I usually went home the next day». Again: «I thought milk was enough for her. I left her alone in the bed.” In short, he left her there and left the house to go to his partner. According to the woman, the little girl “was not able to get out of the cot on her own”, she added. «When I came back she was calm, I changed her, I gave her food, she was calm. I also changed her urine-stained diaper.”
iO Donna © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED