The Supreme Court has ratified the 15-year prison sentence for the 41-year-old Italian who in 2014 set fire to the Argana Alta home where his ex-partner and son resided while they were sleeping. The Provincial Court issued an initial conviction in July, and now the Supreme Court has rejected the appeal filed by the defendant, making the ruling final.
Although Vicenzo Pernice acknowledged the facts during the trial, his defense appealed the Provincial Court's sentence, considering that the court had incorrectly set the penalty due to "an improper application" of the mixed aggravating circumstance of kinship. His lawyer also argued that since the mitigating circumstance of reparation of damage also concurred, "the penalty should have been applied at the minimum provided by law" and not "above the legal minimum."
"The rule of compensation is not arithmetic and allows the courts to impose the penalty based on the persistence of a greater intensity in the aggravating circumstance," the Supreme Court argues, adding that the Supreme Court, pointing out that the Provincial Court not only justified the imposition of the penalty "in the greater aggravating intensity of the mixed circumstance of kinship," but also in "other justifying circumstances of the seriousness of the facts," such as that his ex-partner was not the only one in the home, but also his son, "two potential victims"; that his son was three years old and "asthmatic," and that the defendant "had a restraining order in effect against his ex-partner, so by committing the crime, he was also violating it."
The Supreme Court considers that the penalty was set "according to law"
In this way, the high court concludes that the Provincial Court set the extent of the penalty "according to law" and that "justified it in a motivated manner," so it rejects the defendant's appeal, ratifying his 15-year prison sentence, twelve for the crime of arson and three for the crime of injury for the damages suffered by his son.
The ruling also prohibited Vincenzo Pernice from approaching within 500 meters of his ex-partner and son, "of their private home, their place of work, and any other place they frequent" and "communicating with them by any means for 25 years." Likewise, he was sentenced to "special disqualification from exercising parental authority" over his son, "until the minor reaches the age of majority."
Vincenzo Pernice must also pay his son 630 euros in compensation "for the injuries suffered" and pay compensation to the property owner of 5,542.93 euros for the damages caused.
He acknowledged the facts, although he claimed he only wanted to "scare"
The events took place on November 2, 2014, around 5 a.m. when Vincenzo Pernice went to the home "with the intention of setting fire to it and knowing that his sentimental ex-partner and his son were there."
The convicted man, as considered proven by the Justice system, sprayed the main door of the homes "with two liters of gasoline that he carried in a container and set it on fire." In the home, "his ex-partner and his son were trapped," who "managed to save their lives because fortunately" the woman "woke up and saw the smoke, and the neighbors helped both her and her son to escape through the roof of the house, as they had no other way out."
However, as a result of the event, the convicted man's son "suffered injuries consisting of smoke inhalation, bronchospasm secondary to inhalation, and acute secondary pneumonia." Injuries for which he required "initial medical assistance" and "subsequent medical treatment consisting of hospitalization, bronchodilator and antibiotic treatment, and oxygen." It took "10 days" to heal, of which he was hospitalized for seven.
As previously stated, the defendant acknowledged the facts during the trial, although he claimed that his intention was not to cause harm but to "scare" and that he thought the house was empty. However, his ex-partner stated that he had already threatened to burn it down "because it was silent and no one would find out."
