An Italian mother who murdered her own son, dismembered him and covered his body with lime has claimed she was protecting his girlfriend.
Alessandro Venier’s remains were found in a rubbish bin at his home in Gemona del Friuli, near the north-eastern city of Udine.
The 35-year-old’s remains were found buried in quicklime to disguise the smell. He was reportedly cut up into three parts.
His mother, 61-year-old nurse Lorena Venier, confessed to the crime, telling prosecutors: ‘I have done a terrible thing.’
She told police that her 35-year-old son was abusing her and his Colombian girlfriend, 30-year-old Mailyn Castro Monsalvo, who was also the mother of his six-month-old daughter.
Lorena said her son had drug and alcohol problems, was unemployed and refused to help out around the house that he shared with his mother and girlfriend.
When he began discussing the idea of moving to Colombia with his young family, Lorena said she feared the harm he would bring to Mailyn and their daughter.
She said at a hearing on August 2: ‘Mailyn is the daughter that I never had.
‘Mailyn was being beaten up, insulted and threatened many times with death. My son downplayed the post-natal depression she was suffering from. Alessandro was violent, Mailyn’s life was in danger.
‘I could not have allowed them to go to Colombia, Mailyn and the baby would have run very serious risks there. The only way to stop him was to kill him.’
Though Mailyn is alleged to have helped out with the July 25 murder, she was in a vulnerable state and confessed less than a week later.
The pair are alleged to have given Allesandro a glass of lemonade spiked with a tranquiliser.
When that didn’t work, Lorena allegedly injected him with two doses of insulin, which she said she got from the hospital she worked. Insulin overdoses can lead to comas, irreversible brain damage and even death if not treated.
But despite the heavy dose of insulin, Allesandro was still alive. He was allegedly finished off after the pair smothered him with a pillow before strangling him to death with his own bootlaces.
Lorena told cops: ‘I took care of the dismemberment myself. I used a hacksaw and a sheet to hold the blood. I dissected him into three pieces.’
Her hope was that no one would notice her son’s disappearance, banking on neighbours assuming he had moved to South America without his girlfriend or daughter.
But Mailyn’s confession exposed his death, and both were detained. Lorena has been charged with murder and concealing a body, while Mailyn is suspected of instigation to murder.
The town has reportedly been left shocked by the horror death.
Roberto Revelant, the mayor of the town, said: ‘Nothing like this has ever happened here before. It’s a terrible thing, it’s heart-wrenching.’
A post-mortem examination is currently being carried out, and the women are expected to be officially charged in the coming days.
The six-month-old child has been taken into care, with the mayor adding: ‘The whole community is rallying around the baby. We are working with social services to make sure she is safe.’
