Perpetrator of shock femicide in court for first time

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 25 - Filippo Turetta, a young man who has confessed to brutal murder last year of his 22-year-old former girlfriend Giulia Cecchettin in a case that shocked Italy and highlighted its problem with femicide and gender-based violence, appeared at a hearing of his trial for the homicide for the first time in a Venice court on Friday. Turetta has admitted to stabbing Cecchettin to death at Fossò, near Venice, on November 11, 2023, days before she was due to graduate from Padua University in biomedical engineering.
    The case caused widespread dismay partly because of the brutality of the killing and also because of the young age of the perpetrator and victim.
    Prosecutors says Turetta, who was doing the same course was Cecchettin, stabbed her 75 times.
    Cecchettin was reported missing on the day she was murdered after she met up with Turetta and went for a meal with him.
    Her body was found in a gully at Val Caltea, near Lake Barcis in Friuli, on November 18, 2023 .
    Turetta went on the run after dumping the corpse.
    He was tracked on the side of the road near Leipzig, Germany after he ran out of money and his car ran out of petrol, a week after the murder.
    Also present in the courtroom on Friday was the victim's father Gino Cecchettin, who is among the civil plaintiffs in the trial.
    Speaking at her funeral in December, Gino Cecchettin said he hoped his daughter's death might mark a turning point in the fight against gender-based violence in Italy.
    Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara, who had already committed to tackling the issue, subsequently sent a circular letter to schools inviting them to get pupils to reflect on his words.
    (ANSA).