By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Charity Oriachi, wife of a Nigerian street vendor, Alika Ogorchukwu, has called for justice after the killing of her husband in Italy, which was filmed by onlookers and has sparked angry reactions.
The 39-year-old Ogorchukwu was selling goods on Friday on the main street of Civitanova Marche, a beach town on the Adriatic Sea, when his attacker grabbed his crutch, taking advantage of his physical challenge and struck him down, a police source say.
“The attacker chased the victim and first hit him with a crutch, then knocked him to the ground and then finished him off, killing him by repeatedly striking him with his bare hands.”
An autopsy later in the week will help determine if Ogorchukwu succumbed to the beating or was strangled as he lay with his back on the ground.
Police used street cameras to track the assailant’s movements and detained a man identified as Filippo Claudio Giuseppe Ferlazzo, 32.
He was being held on suspicion of murder and theft for allegedly taking the victim’s phone. Luconi said the assailant lashed out after the vendor made “insistent” requests for pocket change. Police were questioning witnesses and viewing videos of the attack.
Ogorchukwu, who was married with two children, resorted to selling goods on the street after he was struck by a car and lost his job as a laborer due to his injuries, said Daniel Amanza, who runs the ACSIM association for immigrants in the Marche region’s Macerata province. Hundreds of people from the Nigerian community and Italians, including Orgorchukwu’s wife, Charity Oriachi, protested in Civitanova Marche on Saturday.
Francesco Mantella, a lawyer who helps Nigerians in the country in different cases, said: “This is horrible. No one is helping to stop this murderous rage against him. This shameful indifference must be investigated. It shows that there is no longer a sense of citizenship, sensitivity and solidarity.”
Former Speaker of the House of Representatives and Democratic Party MP Laura Boldrini while reacting to the gruesome murder said: “A man was killed in Civitanova Marche with brutal violence while witnesses were filming. Racism and anger arise against the weak. The worst aspect of society; discrimination and oppression.”
Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has since vowed that the federal government will ensure justice for the family of Ogorchukwu, assuring that it is working with the embassy in Italy to ensure the perpetrator is brought under justice sooner.
