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Mohamed Galloul, a 30-year-old Tunisian national, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for the murder of Alice Neri, a young mother from Ravarino whose body was discovered charred in the trunk of her car in the Modena countryside on Nov. 18, 2022.
The sentence was handed down by the Assize Court of Modena on Wednesday, which found Galloul guilty of aggravated voluntary homicide and the destruction of a corpse.
Prosecutors stated that Galloul met Neri for the first time on the evening of Nov. 17, 2022, at a bar in Concordia, where she had spent time with a colleague.
Surveillance footage and witness accounts confirmed that Galloul entered Neri’s car in the parking lot that night. She was not seen again.
When Neri failed to return home, her husband reported her missing. The following evening, her burned-out car was discovered in a rural area between Concordia and Fossa. Firefighters found her body in the trunk. An autopsy revealed she had been stabbed at least seven times before the vehicle was set alight.
At the scene, investigators recovered a used oil canister believed to have been used to ignite the fire. DNA matching Galloul was found on the handle. The prosecution also relied on CCTV footage and witness statements to support its case.
In the days following the killing, Galloul fled Italy and traveled to France. He was arrested in December 2022 under a European arrest warrant. During the trial, he denied killing Neri.
The court rejected his defense and accepted the prosecution’s case that the evidence against Galloul was overwhelming. Although premeditation was not established, the court cited the cruelty of the act as an aggravating factor, which contributed to the length of the sentence.
As reported by the Ansa news agency, Galloul was also ordered to pay €1 million in damages to the victim’s daughter, €600,000 to her mother, Patrizia Montorsi, and €200,000 to her brother, Matteo Marzoli.
The case received widespread media attention in Italy and prompted significant public interest, particularly in the province of Modena and Neri’s hometown of Ravarino.
Galloul’s lawyer confirmed after the hearing that his client will appeal his conviction.
“My client is at peace: the next step will be an appeal,” he told the press. “If there are sentences that are often overturned, they are precisely those of the Court of Assizes, where instinct, not rationality, takes precedence. From a rational standpoint, this sentence cannot stand.”
The victim’s brother, Matteo, refused to call the sentence justice for his sister. “This isn’t justice; justice would be having my sister here. This is the enforcement of the law,” he said.
