Rome, 17 March (LaPresse) – No tremor in his voice, no hesitation. This is how Mark Samson speaks before Rome’s Third Assize Court, in a calm, almost detached tone, as he recounts the events leading up to the death of his ex-girlfriend, Ilaria Sula. In the bunker courtroom at Rebibbia, following his mother’s testimony at the last hearing – where she was sentenced to two years for concealing a body – the 24-year-old, accused of femicide, gave evidence in court. Dressed in a black jacket and white shirt, he interrupted the judge before beginning: “I must make a preliminary statement. I am aware that I have not always told the truth, especially about my mother. I was trying to protect her.” He then went into detail about his relationship with Ilaria Sula: “She didn’t know I had the passwords to her social media accounts; I’d taken them without her noticing,” he said, going on to explain how he monitored her conversations, reading the messages she exchanged with other men, arguing that “if you want to know whether you love someone, you don’t sign up to a dating site”. When the prosecutor pointed out that he too was seeing another girl, he hesitated and then declined to answer. In the courtroom, Ilaria’s parents watched with tears in their eyes, their daughter’s face printed on their T-shirts.
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