A Trail of Violence: From a Notorious Murder to Domestic Abuse

When he was 16 years old, he was the protagonist of one of the most dramatic news stories in Italy: the Novi Ligure murder. Omar Favaro and Erika De Nardo, the couple of underage sweethearts who on the evening of February 21, 2001, killed with unprecedented ferocity Susy Cassini and Gianluca De Nardo, respectively the mother and younger brother of Erika, with almost 100 stab wounds and an attempt to poison the little boy. Today, 23 years later, Omar faces a new charge. About twenty episodes, all occurred between 2019 and 2021: beatings, insults, and threats, physical and psychological violence against his ex-wife. The accusations against Omar range from repeated death threats, to disfigure the ex-wife's face with acid, or to confine her to a wheelchair, to beatings and physical and psychological violence. A financial control of the woman that did not allow her to leave the house. Accusations that had led the investigators to request for him the precautionary measure of the prohibition of approaching the victims. He rejects the accusations and has not yet been interrogated. Omar was released from prison in 2010 and after moving with his parents from Asti to Acqui Terme, still in Piedmont, he started a new life in Tuscany. The prosecutor's office of Ivrea has now closed the investigations that could lead to the request for indictment, therefore to the trial. Last summer, the review court of Turin had rejected the request for restrictive measures against the man, and Favaro had defined the accusations made by his ex-wife as "slanderous". His defender, lawyer Lorenzo Repetti, had emphasized that the case falls within the context of a separation lawsuit where, among other things, the custody of the daughter is under discussion. According to the ex-wife, Omar Favaro continuously harassed her with phrases like "I will disfigure you with acid", "You are disgusting", "You are anorexic". She had called the carabinieri four times during the cohabitation, then minimizing the incident. After the separation, she had denounced him and had requested the exclusive custody of the daughter. It is precisely to obtain this, according to Favaro, that the woman would have "made up everything". At the conclusion of the investigations, Omar Favaro is described as violent and possessive. He would have threatened his wife to "disfigure her with acid" and to "confine her to a wheelchair". Moreover, he would have thrown objects at her or grabbed her by the hair, even in front of the child.