Politics Death of kidnapped baby horrifies Italy

[Dark Avenger]

Italians called for the death penalty Sunday nearly a month after the kidnapping of a 17-month-old baby who was apparently killed because he cried too much.

The kidnapping of Tommaso Onofri from his home in Parma on March 2 has shocked the country. The baby's body was found half-buried in a ditch near his home Saturday night, after a suspect led police to the site.

The boy was killed about a half-hour after he was kidnapped, according to Italian newspaper reports.

The reports said the kidnappers rushed from the boy's house with the child between them on the seat of a motorbike. They fell over and the toddler started crying. They tried to strangle him, then hit his head with a shovel until he went silent, the reports said.

The police said they were interrogating three people on Sunday night.

"Every Italian family is crying for the death of Tommaso," Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi said in a statement. "Since last night, when we learned the terrible news, my wife and I have felt a bone-chilling horror that took our breath away."

Pope Benedict XVI, who had appealed for Tommaso's return, was among those expressing revulsion Sunday.

"We are all touched by the case of little Tommaso, barbarously killed," Benedict told pilgrims at the Vatican. "Let us pray for him and for all victims of violence." Even the police became emotionally involved in the baby's search.

"I saw police officers cry," Parma's police chief, Vincenzo Stringone, told state radio. "Till the end we had hoped that the child was alive."

News of the discovery of the baby's body was announced late Saturday on state TV.

FULL STORY HERE

I was actually crying as I wrote the above quote - which left me wondering what this world is coming to when something as horrible as that would happen to an innocent baby.

 

[Jamison]

I heard about that and it truly is awful. Sadly though, things like that happen far too often in the US -_-

 

[Dark Avenger]

I heard about that and it truly is awful. Sadly though, things like that happen far too often in the US -_-

Unfortunately, that's what makes something like this doubly tragic - not just the increasing frequency of such atrocities, but also the desensitization of large segments of society toward such senseless violence (especially when it happens to the most innocent of victims).

What needs to be considered is to take an empathetic view of the situation, to see it from the baby's point of view - the little boy most likely didn't understand what was happening to him or why it was happening, and after the kidnappers' bike fell over, he started crying because of the accident, and because he wanted his parents and wanted to go home - and just for that, those sick bastards who kidnapped him then killed him as described in the quote (I almost never talk like this, so pardon my language - I was just left both saddened and extremely angry over what I had read, which would be understandable in such a circumstance). :angry:

I'm just glad that the kidnappers were caught - and that they are made to pay a very severe price for what they did to the baby.

 

[Lemon-Krumpitz]

Heartless bastards

 

[Dani 22 01 1979]

That's an Awful Story.

Why Kidnap the Child in the Poor Place.

The Poor Family.

I hope the Sick Asses Rot in Prison :angry:

 

[SydneyAnneVaughn]

i hope they rot aswell.

anyone who would do something so terrible to an innocent child should be made to pay the ultimate penalty.