Overview
- The 38-year-old man from Ghana was discovered on December 6 in a life-size Nativity display in Galatone’s Piazza Santissimo Crocifisso after the mayor noticed movement.
- He had been ordered in Bologna to serve nine months and 15 days for resisting a public official and aggravated assault before going missing after sentencing.
- Mayor Flavio Filoni approached the figure he first thought was part of the scene and then called authorities when it became clear the person was real.
- Local police, the State Police and the Carabinieri identified and arrested the fugitive, who has been remanded to a Lecce jail to serve his sentence.
- Witness accounts said he stood motionless among the figures with his arms raised, and the mayor later described him as being in a state of difficulty.