Five hotel workers who drugged and raped British mother holidaying with daughter are jailed
Men filmed gang attack on woman who had gone on trip following death of her husband
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Your support makes all the difference.Five Italian hotel workers who filmed themselves raping a British mother on the last day of her holiday have been jailed for a total of 36 years.
The 50-year-old woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was attacked while holidaying with her daughter in Sorrento, southern Italy, following the death of her husband.
The incident began when the women from Kent were reportedly served drinks laced with a date rape drug by two bar workers at the Mar Hotel Alimuri in October 2016.
The men are said to have then targeted the older woman, taking her to a side room near the hotel’s swimming pool where they raped her, Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica reports.
She was then taken to another room where the workers’ colleagues also sexually assaulted her.
The men filmed the attack and shared the video in a WhatsApp group called “Dirty Habits”, according to The Sun.
The woman returned home from Italy the following day, where she reported the incident to police.
She said the attack felt as though she was having an “out of body experience” in a statement read out in court in Torre Annunziata, near Sorrento.
Police in Italy tracked the men down through their work records and found images of the victim on their seized mobile phones.
DNA belonging to two of the attackers was also found underneath the victim’s fingernails.
They were also identified using photos of the two barmen which the woman had managed to take on her phone, and through a tattoo one of the men had, which the woman accurately described, La Repubblica reports.
Gennearo Davide Gargiulo was convicted and sentenced to nine years behind bars for his involvement in the attack.
Antonio Miner and Fabio De Virgilio were both given eight years, while Francesco D’antonio and Rafaela Regio received seven and four-year term respectively.
Relatives of the defendants were in the courtroom in, on the final day of the trial and acted with “screams of anger and despair” as their sentences were read out, according to La Repubblica.
If you have been affected by sexual violence, you can find help via the NHS. Rape Crisis offers specialist support for women and girls; and the The Survivors’ Trust supports people of any gender.