Italian authorities have arrested at least seven males from Egypt who are suspected of gang-raping a 13-year-old girl last week as her boyfriend was beaten and forced to watch, according to reports.
The horrifying incident unfolded on the evening of January 30 in Catania, a city on the island of Sicily.
The young girl and her boyfriend were approached by a pack of North Africans in the municipal gardens of Villa Bellini, the oldest urban park in Catania.
The suspects forced the couple into public restrooms and launched a vicious attack, according to authorities.
The victims say they cried out for help but nobody heard them or came to their aid.
“The foreigners threatened the couple: while the boy was beaten, immobilized and kept away, the 13-year-old was raped by two of the suspects while the other five looked on,” Il Giornale reports.
“Panicked and in pain, after the second abuse the young woman found the strength to free herself from her tormentor and escape with her boyfriend.”
The victims fled the scene and were helped by passersby on a nearby street.
Police were quickly alerted, and after reviewing CCTV footage, they were able to apprehend a total of seven suspects.
They were all identified as citizens of Egypt, three of whom are minors.
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini called for the suspects to be chemically castrated if found guilty.
Ragazzina STUPRATA da una banda di SETTE egiziani davanti al fidanzato, minacciato, bloccato e tenuto lontano.
Non venitemi a parlare di “tolleranza” o “errore”.
Davanti ad orrori del genere non può esistere clemenza ma soltanto una cura: CASTRAZIONE chimica.
Conto che la… pic.twitter.com/Chf9oMwte0— Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi) February 3, 2024
“Don’t come and talk to me about ‘tolerance’ or ‘error,’” Salvini wrote on X. “In the face of horrors of this kind there can be no clemency but only one cure: chemical CASTRATION.”
“I hope that the proposal presented by the Lega will be voted on as soon as possible.”
An investigation and legal proceedings are ongoing.
