A 31-stone killer who stabbed his girlfriend over an argument over messy eating has been released from Italian prison because the prison cannot offer him the low-calorie diet he needs to lose weight.
Dimitri Fricano, from Biella in northern Italy, killed 28-year-old Erika Preti during a holiday in Sardinia in June 2017, stabbing her 57 times after she scolded him for leaving “too many crumbs” on the hotel bed.
Fricano, 35, weighed 18.5 kilos in 2019 when he was sentenced to 30 years in prison after admitting to the attack.
Now Italy’s Turin Surveillance Court has released him after just a year behind bars after judges found his weight had increased to 31 kilos.
The court ruled that he was “incompatible with the prison regime” and that his imprisonment also made it impossible for him to follow a slimming diet, the judges said.
Fricano will spend the rest of his time under house arrest in a town near Biella.
Dimitri Fricano, from Biella in northern Italy, killed 28-year-old Erika Preti during a holiday in Sardinia in June 2017, stabbing her 57 times after she scolded him for leaving “too many crumbs” on the hotel bed
Franco, who now weighs 31 kilos, was released from an Italian prison because the prison cannot provide him with the low-calorie diet he needs to lose weight
Fricano, 35, weighed 18.5 kilos in 2019 when he was sentenced to 30 years in prison after admitting to the attack
Fricano had admitted to the brutal murder of his 25-year-old girlfriend Erika Preti when they argued about him leaving crumbs on the bed while eating
Because he was arrested after the murder, Fricano has only spent a year behind bars after long trial delays in Italy due to the pandemic meant he was not finally convicted until 2022.
Prison officials said Fricano’s health was at risk because they could not provide him with the low-calorie diet he needed to lose weight.
He was so heavy, the court was told, that he could not even move around the prison building without crutches or a wheelchair.
Fricano had admitted to the brutal murder of his 25-year-old girlfriend Erika Preti when they argued about him leaving crumbs on the bed while eating.
The couple had been on holiday in San Teodoro when they argued before going to the beach.
Fricano had claimed that Erika hit him with a paperweight, after which he grabbed a knife and stabbed her dozens of times.
He had previously told the police that she had been killed by robbers.
But he finally admitted: “She insulted me about the bread and then hit me on the head. So I killed her.”
His defense attorneys also said he suffers from anxiety-depressive bulimia syndrome, a personality disorder and sleep apnea.
Doctors said he was at high risk of cardiovascular disease and had to follow a special diet that the prison could not provide.
The couple had been on holiday in San Teodoro when they argued before going to the beach
Fricano had claimed that Erika hit him with a paperweight, after which he grabbed a knife and stabbed her dozens of times
His defense attorneys also said he suffers from anxiety-depressive bulimia syndrome, a personality disorder and sleep apnea
Her father Fabrizio Preti told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera: “The house arrest for Dimitri? It’s a shameful decision”
Erika’s father added: “Time, they say, heals wounds, but not that of two parents who have had a daughter taken away from them.”
Judges said he cannot remain in prison because his “massive size” and chain smoking put him at imminent risk of death.
They said: “He needs help that cannot be provided in the facility.”
But the decision to release Fricano makes Erika’s family angry.
Her father Fabrizio Preti told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera: “The house arrest for Dimitri? It’s a shameful decision.
“No one will give me back my little girl.” But the pain is still too much for us to release him so quickly.
“Time, they say, heals wounds, but not that of two parents whose daughter has been taken away.”
“When some friends, after reading it online, told me that Dimitri had been placed under house arrest, a wound reopened. It was like a stab in the heart.
“This is a rare case.” Not even the mafiosi think about it [Mafia] receive this treatment.
“However, they assured me that he would return to the cell when he recovered. I don’t think that’s really very likely.”