The mother of a murdered 18-year-old who attended court on Wednesday wearing a T-shirt of her daughter’s mutilated body has explained why she did it.
‘It was painful to show those images, but I had no choice,’ said Alessandra Verni, who has been seeking justice for her daughter for the last five years.
Convicted murderer Innocent Oseghale appeared to contest additional charges that he sexually assaulted Pamela Mastropietro before killing her. A successful appeal is likely to reduce the life sentence.
Verni has fought an uphill battle with the justice system since 2018, as delays and appeals have prevented her from finding closure after her daughter was dismembered and then murdered by Oseghale.
The mother said she ‘couldn’t take it anymore’ and ‘exploded’ with anger after a hearing was again postponed to 22 February and had the T-shirt printed to bravely confront Oseghale in court.
‘I go to bed every night to dream of Pamela,’ she told La Stampa. ‘That is why I showed that photo.’
Alessandra Verni attended court wearing a T-shirt of her daughter’s dismembered body
Pamela Mastropietro was murdered and dismembered in January 2018 by a drug dealer
Mother Alessandra Verni said: ‘After five years I am losing faith in justice. I wanted to give a wake-up call.
‘I wonder what is the point of re-prosecuting Oseghale, questioning sexual violence and opening up the possibility of a sentence reduction.
‘Did he not exercise enough violence to merit life imprisonment?’
Mastropietro’s mother attended the appeal court in Perugia earlier this week wearing a T-shirt that showed the horrific images of her daughter’s body.
The photos on the shirt had not so far been shared with the public.
La Stampa reported they were autopsy images taken by forensics.
Ms Verni told the Italian outlet, ‘anyone who saw those images knew that if they were made public they would shake consciences.’
She said the courts must now confirm life imprisonment for the man who was last year convicted of the ‘murder and vilification’ of Pamela Mastropietro.
Oseghale (pictured) was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2019, with eighteen months in solitary confinement
Mastropietro mutilated and dismembered body was found inside suitcases left in a ditch
Verni is still seeking justice five years after the death of her daughter.
In 2019, she said after a hearing that a fast-track trial would be good so long as ‘all the truth comes out’.
‘Because it was not only him,’ she said, referring to Oseghale.
Four years later, Verni appealed for a search for accomplices.
She told La Stampa, ‘there were other people with Osenghale the day he killed Pamela […] I feel that no one is being investigated. No one is looking for these men.’
In another interview, the distraught mother said: ‘No one is looking for the accomplices of the murderer.
‘In my battles for justice, I always have my daughter’s friends by my side. Watching them grow up is like watching her grow up.’
Pamela Mastropietro was murdered and dismembered in 2018 by drug dealer Oseghale
Mastropietro’s parents Stefano and Alessandra Verni stand by a memorial for their daughter
The T-shirt worn on Wednesday showed Mastropietro’s dismembered head. The series of harrowing pictures were also formed so that the detached body parts made up the structure of a body.
Oseghale, 32, was found guilty and sentenced to jail in 2019 for murdering 18-year-old Mastropietro, and is appealing against part of his conviction for rape.
The judge asked Oseghale if he intended to participate in the next hearing in February. After discussing with his lawyer, he told the court that he would not.
Verni, who was in the court room at the time wearing the T-shirt, yelled aloud: ‘Now even an executioner is asked if he wants to participate in the hearing or not.
‘Let’s throw out a red carpet at this point as well,’ she added.
Both were removed by courtroom police after clashing.
Oseghale’s life sentence will likely be shortened if the court of appeals finds him innocent of rape.
Pamela Mastropietro (second left) with her family. She was murdered and her body dismembered in January
Pamela Mastropietro (pictured with her mother) was killed after she left an addiction recovery centre in Macerata in the Marche region in early 2018
An autopsy showed that Pamela Mastropietro died due to successive abdominal stabbings. It also found that her body was dismembered while she was still alive
Mastropietro was killed after she left an addiction recovery centre in Macerata in the Marche region in early 2018.
Investigators understood that she had decided to leave the facility and made the journey to the local train station on foot.
Having left the recovery centre, Mastropietro attempted to find drugs in Macerata. She then met Oseghale, a local drug dealer, then aged 29.
A day later, a passer-by noticed two abandoned suitcases in a small ditch. Mastropietro’s mutilated and dismembered body was found inside the case.
Drug dealer Oseghale was accused of selling Mastropietro drugs, before he then detained, raped, and stabbed her.
In 2019, courts heard Mastropietro was still alive when Oseghale ‘tried to tear her to pieces’.
Police found Mastropietro’s bloodied clothing at Oseghale’s home.
Oseghale claimed in his testimony that Mastropietro died from a heroin overdose.
However, an autopsy showed that she died due to successive abdominal stabbings. It also found that her body was dismembered while she was still alive.
Oseghale was accused of murder, sexual assault, concealment, and destruction of a body. He disputed the charges at the trial in February 2019.
He was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment, with eighteen months in solitary confinement.