Vanessa had already been targeted by another stalker who grabbed her by the throat at the gate of her house because she rejected his advances. On this occasion she had already reported her pursuer, a customer of the supermarket where she worked. But when the trial opened in October 2022, he withdrew the lawsuit and the proceedings ended in a stalemate: judgment in which there was no longer any possibility of continuing due to the dismissal of the lawsuit.
Vanessa Ballan, how she was killed: eight stab wounds, the fatal ones in the heart and lungs. He tried to defend himself. She was 9 weeks pregnant
THE HISTORY
The 49-year-old Moroccan fell in love with her in the summer of 2021. Under the pretense of reporting a phantom theft in the aisles of Eurospin, he had managed to get her cell phone number. However, his intentions were completely different. The 49-year-old began bombarding her with WhatsApp messages asking for dates. When he saw that his attention was not being reciprocated, he increased the pressure and made her life impossible for two weeks. Between July 22 and August 4, he had waited for her in the supermarket parking lot several times and walked up to her house, so much so that it caused her to be in a constant state of anxiety. Vanessa had held out until the stalker got his hands on her. The 49-year-old grabbed her by the neck at the gate of her house. It was August 4, 2021. On the same day, the 26-year-old filed a report at the Riese police station, where she would then go two years later to report her former Kosovar lover.
THE PROCESS
The lawsuit led to proceedings against the 49-year-old, even though the injured party had expressed his wish to withdraw the lawsuit before the preliminary hearing. However, since these were acts of persecution, the public prosecutor (a different judge than in the second stalking case) still carried out the prosecution and requested and obtained charges against the 49-year-old. However, when the negotiation phase began, the woman dropped the lawsuit. At that point, the judge concluded the proceedings by ruling that no further action could be taken due to the dismissal of the complaint. The reason for the backtracking? Personal, as it turns out. Maybe the young saleswoman just needed to send a signal to her stalker to convince him to leave her alone. And that's how it was. However, two years later, the sick love of a Kosovar (who you always met in the supermarket) proved fatal. Vanessa was a beautiful, cheerful, sociable and always smiling girl who worked as a cashier in a supermarket in the province. It was precisely because of these qualities that he had received unwanted praise and unrequited attention on several occasions.
UNDERESTIMATION
Meanwhile, after the Treviso prosecutor admitted that he underestimated the dangerous situation for Vanessa, who filed a complaint against Fandaj accompanied by her husband and father of her 4-year-old child, Justice Minister Carlo Nordio turned to the relevant authorities the Dicastery to obtain a detailed report from the judicial offices. Prosecutor Marco Martani assured full cooperation: “Given the investigation file against Bujar Fandaj and the lack of action, I expected that requests for explanations would arrive from Rome.” I will respond accordingly. I am completely at your disposal.
THE QUESTIONS
Could the alleged crime against Bujar Fandaj lead to earlier action to stop him from attacking Vanessa Ballan? In retrospect, the number of members of the “Yes” choir cannot be counted. However, according to prosecutor Sabattini's report, the procedures were followed. “It’s easy to speak with hindsight,” prosecutor Martani also emphasized, emphasizing that no rules had been violated. Yes, because the report written by Prosecutor Sabattini starts from this premise and lists the activities carried out to deal with Vanessa's complaint. And the elements in investigators' hands required further investigation. In fact, Fandaj had (and is) no criminal record and had shown no signs of dangerousness that would presuppose violent acts beyond the persecutory behavior with which he was accused. The victim had deleted intimidating messages and compromising videos, and prosecutors immediately triggered Code Red on October 26 and searched the 41-year-old's home the following day and confiscated his IT media, most notably his four cell phones. Devices analyzed for a quick forensic copy. The prosecutor's office was waiting for the report on the contents (which was submitted on Thursday). The results would probably have triggered an application for an approach ban. We had no time. Also because Fandaj hasn't bothered Vanessa since the police visited her. It appeared that he had come to terms with the end of this relationship and that the complaint had therefore had the desired effect.
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