A 48-year-old Italian carer confirmed
to a preliminary hearings judge (GIP) Monday that he had killed
four elderly cancer patients and had done so as mercy killings.
Mario Eutizia, who has been in prison in Santa Maria Capua
Vetere since Thursday 22 August on charges of multiple murder,
did not speak of any other deaths caused among the approximately
thirty elderly people he cared for over the last ten years.
He reiterated that he had killed out of compassion and pity.
Eutizia, who is ill and physically exhausted, appeared before
the GIP, Alessandra Grammatica, for a hearing to validate his
detention.
The alleged mercy killings took place in Latina south of Rome
(two cases), at Casoria near Naples, and in the Campanian area
of Cilento in recent years, Eutizia told Carabinieri in Caserta
Thursday.
He said his aim was to bring them "gently" towards death,
"driven by a deep compassion and pity for them", as they were
very old and seriously ill.
Prosecutors said Saturday they were trying to identify the two
cases in Latina after Eutizia said he could not remember their
names because he allegedly killed them some 10 years ago.
The other two alleged mercy killings took place a few months
ago, police said: 89-year-old Luigi Di Marzo, who died at
Casoria (Naples) last December; and 96-year-old Gerardo
Chintemi, who died at Vibonati (Salerno) in Cilento last March.
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