Italy: Stalker kills 22-year-old student in broad daylight

The murder of 22-year-old university student, Sara Campanella, in broad daylight has shocked Italy, where violence against women remains a pressing issue. 

Campanella was fatally stabbed on Monday afternoon in Messina, Sicily, by 27-year-old Stefano Argentino, an acquaintance who had persistently harassed her for two years.

According to the BBC, witnesses recounted seeing Argentino approach Campanella on the street before attacking her with a knife. Despite her desperate attempts to escape and cries of “Stop it, let me go, stop it,” she collapsed shortly after the assault. 

A passer-by attempted to chase the attacker, but he managed to flee. Campanella succumbed to her injuries en route to the hospital, and Argentino was arrested hours later in the nearby town of Noto.

His lawyer, Raffaele Leone, confirmed that Argentino had admitted to the charges but had not disclosed his motive. “I can’t say if he’s remorseful, he’s quite closed up,” Leone told Italian media.

Messina prosecutor Antonio D’Amato revealed that Argentino had “insistently and repeatedly” harassed Campanella since she began university. Friends had previously intervened when Argentino complained that she no longer smiled at him, but Campanella never reported him to the police, as she did not perceive his behaviour as “threatening or pathological.” 

Prosecutors detailed how Argentino regularly pestered her, urging her to go out with him despite her rejections. Shortly before the attack, she sent a message to friends, warning that “that sick guy is following me.”

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Her mother, in a Facebook post, lamented that her daughter had believed her firm rejection would suffice. “Bravely, she thought her ‘No’ would be enough because [Stefano Argentino] meant nothing to her, they weren’t together, she just wanted him to leave her alone, she wanted to live and dream and graduate. You always need to speak up and go to the police! Help me give Sara a voice,” she wrote.

Her brother, in a televised interview, denounced any justification for such violence, stating that unrequited attention was no excuse “to act like this one.”

The case has reignited concerns over femicide in Italy, echoing the recent murder of 22-year-old Giulia Cecchettin by her ex-boyfriend. Cecchettin’s father told La Repubblica that “there are entire generations of men who don’t accept rejection,” stressing that “love is not possession, jealousy is not love, and saying ‘No’ is a right. In Sara’s case, there hadn’t even been a relationship.”

Former minister Mara Carfagna called for urgent societal change, declaring, “Women continue to be killed by those who don’t accept their rejection. We need to make an extraordinary effort, a collective act of rebellion… against this culture of death.”

Campanella’s murder occurred against the backdrop of Italy’s ongoing femicide crisis. In the first months of the year alone, 11 women have been killed.

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