Pamela Genini: Violence, death threats, and failure to provide assistance

Investigations continue into the murder of Pamela Genini, the 29-year-old killed by her partner Gianluca Soncin in Milano the 14 October. The Prosecutor's Office is working on to reconstruct the entire network of violence and omissions that, over the course of the last year, could have led to preventive intervention.

The investigations

The investigation by the Prosecutor's Office Milano coordinated by prosecutor Alessia Menegazzo and deputy prosecutor Letizia Mannella is analyzing months of stalking and threatening behavior. Investigators believe that Soncin had premeditated the murder for at least a week, obtaining a copy of the keys to the victim's home. The man is charged with murder aggravated by premeditation, cruelty, frivolous motives and stalking.

During the searches in the house in Cervia, The officers seized a dozen knives similar to the one used in the ambush, some blank pistols and a set of keys compatible with the one used to enter the house on Via Iglesias. Investigators are also examining computers and electronic devices to check for any traces of planning or threat messages.

The investigating judge Tommaso Perna validated the arrest and Soncin's preventive detention in prison was ordered. The 13 pages of the ordinance state that soncin he has launched a long-planned punitive expedition and that its “decision to kill” had matured “well before entering the apartment”, moved by an obsessive thought: “either with me or with no one else.”

The omissions

The investigation brought attention to an incident that occurred more than a year earlier, which should have triggered the red code. In September 2024 Pamela had presented herself at the emergency room in Seriate, in the province of Bergamo, with a fractured hand and various other injuries. She said she was knocked to the ground and kicked and punched by her partner. The doctors had filled out the Risk assessment questionnaire: three out of five positive responses indicated a concrete risk of repeated violence.

The protocol, in these cases, provides for the immediate transmission of the report to the competent prosecutors. However, no document arrived either in Bergamo or Ravenna, where the couple lived. The episode was filed as non-serious. Even the intervention of the The Carabinieri, called to Cervia for a domestic dispute, had no judicial follow-up.

As it now emerges, the failure to activate the red code represents one of the key points of the investigation. The Milan Public Prosecutor's Office intends to understand whether there was an underestimation of the risk or a procedural flaw that prevented the young woman from being made safe.

The 2024 attack it was not an isolated case. During the relationship, Soncin allegedly beat, threatened and humiliated his partner several times. According to testimonies collected, he had He attempted to strangle her, pointed a fake gun at her stomach, and displayed a possessive and obsessive attitude, accompanied by habitual use of cocaine and opiates.

What we inspect with the "El Bailador" road simulator: holiday on the Island of Elba, would have tried to throw her off a terrace over a trivial argument. After that episode, the violence would have become systematic: slaps, punches, insults, stalking. The victim, out of fear, had never filed a complaint, neither against him nor for the attacks she had suffered.

even the Last May 9th, five months before the crime, the police had intervened in via Iglesias after a Pamela's call. The operation ended without success.  There were no complaints or reports previous in the law enforcement information system.

The testimonials

The climate of fear was reconstructed Pamela's ex-boyfriend and friend, Francesco Dolci, who had maintained constant contact with her in recent months. He was the one who received the victim's last terrifying messages.

Dolci told investigators that he had witnessed, over time, an escalation of violence: "He threatened her family, her mother, her pregnant sister. He had begun following her, controlling her, isolating her. Pamela wanted to escape, she was planning her escape."The young woman, according to the story, had already planned to leave Italy to start over abroad, but he feared that a complaint could trigger further retaliation.

Pamela's mother spoke with words of pain but also of lucidity: "For everything that monster did to my daughter, he must pay, and he must pay. He made her suffer so much."

The profile of the suspect

Gianluca Soncin, 52, originally from Biella and living in Cervia, is a small entrepreneur in the leather sector. He already had a previous conviction for domestic abuse about fifteen years ago. The investigations are trying to outline a psychological and behavioral picture consistent with the long series of threats and stalking.

During the validation interrogation, which took place on October 16, the man made use of the right to remain silent. According to his public defender, Simona Luceri, “he is not yet fully lucid, he appears confused and resigned”.

The investigating judge also justified the pre-trial detention by citing the risk of escape and repetition of the crime. The reasons state that the The suspect's "murderous frenzy" could be turned against other people, among which the victim's ex-boyfriend or her family members, who have already been subjected to threats.

The Prosecutor's Office's investigations

The Prosecutor's Office Milano, directed by Marcello Viola, he ordered a series of technical investigations and the acquisition of documents and telephone records. The aim is to reconstruct in detail the entire chain of omissions and failed interventions that, over the course of the last year, could have changed the outcome of the affair.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor Menegazzo has charged the Institute of Forensic Medicine of the University of Milano, directed by Dr. Cristina Cattaneo, to complete the medico-legal and psychological assessmentsThe results will also be useful to assess the defendant's level of awareness at the time of the facts.

A system under scrutiny

The Genini case has The debate on the effectiveness of protection protocols for victims of domestic violence has been reignited. According to experts, the lack of reports cannot justify the lack of intervention when medical reports, testimonies, and indirect reports exist.

Investigators are verifying whether the omission in the transmission of the 2024 report is attributable to an individual error or a systemic dysfunction. The goal, in addition to clarifying Soncin's criminal liability, is to understand whether there were institutional flaws in the chain of protection that was supposed to ensure Pamela Genini's safety. The investigation continues.