Ismail Picari is now in custody. The Albanian escaped after speeding his car into the sea with his wife inside. Two people who saw the scene intervened and managed to prevent her drowning.
The dramatic incident occurred at the Cattolica canal port near Rimini in Italy. It was the afternoon of August 19 when a white Volkswagen Golf driven by a 46-year-old Albanian ended up in the canal. His wife, a 40-year-old, was also inside the car, but the port area was packed with passersby, residents, tourists and fishermen.
Two of them had seen everything. The car that increased speed and then crashed into the trunk door that suddenly opened. Both jumped into the water to save them. The pizza man came out first and immediately left the scene. His wife, shocked, confused and injured, was immediately taken to the hospital.
The two had just had an argument and the 46-year-old had just been released from custody. Just two days earlier, he had been arrested by the Carabinieri for resisting a public officer. He had attacked his wife and several family members had called the police. One of them heard him uttering threatening words towards his wife as he was being handcuffed.
"I'll kill you, I'll shoot you! Arrest me today, but when I get out, I'll come looking for you." Now the 46-year-old is back in jail. He was released after his arrest on August 17 and 2 days later attempted to kill his wife. Picari is now charged with attempted murder.
"I felt my husband put his hands on me," the woman later confessed. "I was left alone in the car and he was driving away."
Many in the village reported that he had repeatedly abused his wife and was generally a violent person.
His extensive criminal record confirms this. He has been repeatedly reported, arrested, convicted, and charged with a variety of crimes: resisting a public officer, drunkenness, and possession of a weapon capable of causing harm. The couple has two young children, a son and a daughter.
According to the girl's testimony, in recent weeks he had beaten his wife several times. Before they went to the port, he allegedly asked his wife to take him to the bank to split their accounts. An argument ensued, culminating in the dramatic result of the car ending up in the water.
The girl also said that her father had been the victim of an accident in 2018 and that since then, he had begun to display increasingly aggressive behavior. After collecting evidence, the carabinieri immediately went to the couple's home. They found it in disarray, as if a violent fight had recently taken place at the house. That evening, Ismail Picari was stopped nearby and immediately arrested. ©LAPSI.al
