Woman Gets 18 Years for Killing Purse Snatcher

A bag snatching in an Italian beach town has ended with an 18-year homicide sentence for the victim of the theft. A court in Lucca on Monday sentenced 67-year-old businesswoman Cinzia Dal Pino for running over and killing the man who had stolen her bag in Viareggio on Sept. 8, 2024, Sardinia's L'Unione Sarda reports. Surveillance video showed her SUV striking Moroccan national Noureddine "Said" Mezgui and then rolling back and forth over him several times before she retrieved her bag and drove away, leaving him on the ground.

Prosecutors had sought life in prison, arguing Dal Pino acted out of a desire to punish in what they called disproportionate revenge. The judge dropped an aggravating factor of cruelty and recognized mitigating elements, then ordered that she serve 18 years for voluntary homicide under house arrest. Her lawyers had pushed to downgrade the charge to a form of manslaughter tied to excessive self-defense, saying she only meant to retrieve a bag containing important personal items—including passwords to her bank accounts, per People—not to take a life. The case has split public opinion in Italy, and her attorney, who says he "expected a different outcome," plans to appeal.