Overview
- The victim, 52-year-old Noureddine Mezgui, was struck and killed after an episode in September 2024 in Viareggio in which he is accused of stealing the defendant’s bag.
- Surveillance video central to the case shows the defendant’s SUV pursuing the man and hitting him multiple times until he was crushed against a shop window and pillars.
- On May 28, 2026 the public prosecutor in Lucca formally asked the Corte d’Assise to impose life imprisonment, arguing the chase was a deliberate punitive expedition rather than an attempt to stop a thief.
- A court-ordered psychiatric and neurological report filed in April 2026 concluded the defendant was fully lucid and lacked any mental defect, a finding the prosecution says undercuts the defence claim of panic.
- The court is moving to sentence after closing arguments and interventions by civil parties, and the case raises questions about private reprisals, the use of vehicles as weapons, and how courts weigh social vulnerability of victims.