“I’ve insulted her, but I didn’t beat her”

“Can you see me? I’m a big guy, aren’t I?” The man stands up to show the way he looks. “Can you see these hands, they are big, aren’t they? I agree, they must belong to a hard worker.

“The report says that the young girl has got no days of recovery, doesn’t it? If I had slapped her for real, consequences would have been different, wouldn’t they?” Well, I don’t know. “It’s like I say, I haven’t beaten that girl.”

This is the beginning of the story told by Mr. Antonio, 45, the man who has been accused of beating a thirteen-year-old girl at the exit of Dante Alighieri middle school last Thursday. The man has been tracked down, the police headquarters have notified him of a warning, and the proceedings are in progress. He has agreed to tell his story to VareseNews.

Short biography of Mr. Antonio. He is 45, he was born in Enna but he has lived in Varese since he was 4, he is a truck driver, he wakes up every morning at 3 and he goes to work. A small complaint about threatening was lodged against him, but he swears he does not know anything about it. Three months ago, he bought a grey Kia Sportage, a really nice car that is not put in his name, though. Everything starts from there, from that car.

What happened that day?

“I arrived to school at 1:45pm, I parked the car in Via Morselli (in a no parking spot) facing the exit. Later on, four guys arrived and they stopped in front of me. They were kissing and cuddling in couples and they were scratching their backpacks on the bonnet of my car, the 30-thousand-euro car that I bought only three months ago. My wife told the guys to move from there.”

And then what?

“My daughter came out and I started the car. They heard me, they looked at me, but they wouldn’t get out of the way. Only later they moved on the side and the girl stood on our right side.”

Did you run her over or not?

“Well, I was a few inches from her. If I had run her over, she would have fallen down, but she was standing.”

You touched her with the bonnet though…

“I don’t know whether I touched her or not.”

Did the girl react?

“Yes, she told my wife ‘what the hell do you want?’.”

Well, she is a young girl, isn’t she?

“I got out of the car and I told her ‘would you move out of the way?’ and she kicked me in the b…”

Are you sure?

“Of course I am, she kicked me, at that point I pushed her, but with mychest, I had my hands in my pockets, I swear, she insulted me and she told me ‘f… old man, bastard’. Then I told her ‘f… nigger, go back to where you came from’.”

Why did you do it, Mr. Antonio. She is just a young girl, she is weaker, and then, why did you tell her those words?

“I don’t know how harmless a young girl can be…but I said those words because that is what I think. I can’t bear immigrants, even though I’m from the south. You can’t even imagine how many times I was told to leave. But, at least, I am Italian and I stay in my country, I don’t even go to Switzerland or to Germany.”

What do you mean? Not even for vacation?

“No, not even for vacation. It’s better to stay in our country where we have nice places.”

Why do you have it in for foreign people?

“Because they are ruining Italy. In my job, the foreign drivers are paid half of a regular wage, they sleep in the trucks and I earn 1300 euros instead of 2500 because of them.”

Are you racist?

“No, why would I be racist? I work with Pakistani and Senegalese people, too; we get along, as long as we keep a certain distance.”

All right, let’s forget about racism. You must agree with the fact that an adult that hits a little girl is not normal, right?

“I acted that way because of the big pain I felt between my legs after the kick.”

You said that your daughter was sitting in the car during the argument; don’t you think that you could have embarrassed her?

(He stops, he silently thinks over it) “I think so…”

Even if you did not slap her and you did not make her fall, as you affirm, don’t you think that probably you exaggerated a bit?

“Yeah, and what if they ruined my car?”

Maybe what happened is more serious, don’t you think?

“I don’t know. Anyway, I tell the truth, I always tell things the way they are.”

What did your wife say about it?

“She said that I was wrong, but she wasn’t kicked in the b…”