VALUE OF THE MEDICAL-LEGAL INVESTIGATION. CORRESPONDENCE OF THE FINDINGS WITH LEGALLY ESTABLISHED REALITY

Abstract

In recent years, violence against minors has been the subject of in-depth study in all its historical, social and cultural dimensions, being able to be identified and treated according to rigorous scientific methodologies. The A.A. report the case of an 8-year-old girl, who disappeared in a rural area, found dead a few hours later, on the recommendation of a young man who, despite having admitted to having gone away with the child, had not provided further details. The forensic inspection revealed that the discovery area included an area with burnt undergrowth about 4 meters in diameter. Examination of the external genitalia showed that the hymen was hemorrhagic in the right hemicycle, at 11 o'clock, with laceration of the most superficial layers of the anterior face. In the present case, therefore, despite having limited historical and circumstantial data, it was possible to reconstruct the following damaging dynamic: the little girl, after having gone away with her aggressor, was first the victim of an attempt of sexual violence by the latter and later immobilized by placing a foot on the slender abdomen. She had been covered with brushwood which the attacker had set fire to, thus killing her. This reconstruction of the criminal events, proposed to the investigating magistrate, was confirmed in each passage by the confessions made by the murderer, during the various degrees of trial, so much so that the final sentence reported in full the specific steps of the medico-legal relationship.

Keywords

• murder
• child abuse
• reconstruction