Another “if you leave me I’ll kill you”. Another woman killed. The twenty-nine year old Pamela Genini was killed with 24 stab wounds by her partner Gianluca Soncin
Another “if you leave me I’ll kill you”. Another woman killed. The twenty-nine year old Pamela Genini was killed with 24 stab wounds by her partner Gianluca Soncin.
The dynamics of feminicide
In Milan, on Tuesday evening, the 52-year-old man broke into Pamela’s house, in via Iglesias 33, in the Gorla district: she wanted to end their relationship. While he entered the house, with the copy of the keys that he had secretly obtained, the woman was on the phone with her ex-boyfriend to confide in the attacks perpetrated by Soncin himself. But the call was suddenly cut off. Pamela herself clarified the reason a few minutes later, writing her last cry for help to her ex-partner: «I’m scared, he duplicated my keys. He entered. Call the police”. And so did the ex-partner.
When the police arrived, Pamela was still alive: “It’s Glovo” she said, when the police rang the intercom. Soncin, sensing the arrival of help, threw himself at the woman, dragged her onto the terrace and inflicted dozens of stab wounds on her while the police tried to break into the apartment and the frightened neighbors saw the scene from the windows.
At the sight of the policemen, the killer continued to strike Pamela with fatal blows. Before being blocked by the police, the man decided to use the knife against himself, inflicting two stab wounds on his throat: he was transported to the Niguarda hospital in non-serious conditions.
The interrogation
During the interrogation, Soncin appeared detached and in front of the prosecutor, Alessia Menegazzo, he made use of the right not to answer. He will be questioned again on Tuesday, in the meantime he has been taken to San Vittore prison. The investigators dispute premeditation and stalking. Soncin would in fact have gone to Pamela’s home with the intention of killing her: he had brought with him a hunting knife, or the murder weapon, and, according to the prosecutor, he had “procured a copy of the house keys”. Although there are no reports of stalking by the woman, there are several testimonies reporting episodes of violence and death threats. And this is why the Prosecutor’s Office contested the aggravating circumstance of stalking, as well as “trivial motives” and “cruelty”.
The ex-boyfriend: “let justice be done”
The last person who heard from Pamela and who tried to save her from the fury of her killer by calling the police was her ex-boyfriend. Yesterday during the eight hours of interrogation he recounted the moments of that phone call. Interviewed by Corriere della Sera, the man, an entrepreneur from Sant’Omobono, explained that “The biggest problem” is that he was “not able to save her”. Adding: «I have to find the courage to move forward. Because that’s what a brave man does, brave ones don’t stab women.” And he declared: “I am doing everything I can to ensure justice is done.”
The beginning of the relationship and the death threats
The relationship between Pamela and her killer began a year ago and shortly after she moved to Soncin’s house in Cervia. From the beginning, the man had tried to isolate her: he forbade her from seeing her friends and also controlled her financially. In March they moved to the apartment in via Iglesias, but it was only for a short period. Soncin had become increasingly aggressive: he threatened Pamela and her family with death. “If you leave me I’ll kill you” he told her. The last holiday together would have been last summer on Elba: a holiday that did not last long given that on that occasion Soncin had threatened to kill his partner’s Chihuahua.
She is friendly, he is shy. This is how they were described by those who saw them in via Iglesias. Pamela, originally from the province of Bergamo, was a model and an entrepreneur: together with her friend, Elisa Bortolotti, she had created a line of bikinis. But not only that: he was also a real estate agent for luxury homes. He loved travelling, “getting involved” and “thinking outside the box”.
He, originally from Biella, has a completely different profile: in 2010 he was arrested on charges of criminal association by the Financial Police of Ascoli. He had not paid VAT of 6.5 million euros in order to sell luxury cars imported from Germany at discounts of up to 13%. The cars were delivered directly to buyers, but appeared to be imported by fictitious companies.
