I hope those responsible burn in hell, but not right before receiving a taste of their own medicine.
Quote:
Body of kidnapped toddler found
By Silvia Aloisi in Rome
03-04-2006
From: Reuters
THE killing of an 18-month-old boy who was snatched from his high chair by kidnappers has sent shockwaves across Italy.
Pope Benedict and Italy's president have led condemnation of the murder of the epileptic toddler, who was snatched from his home near Parma a month ago.
A minute of silence has also been observed in football stadiums across the country for 18-month-old Tommaso Onofri, whose body was found at the weekend after the kidnappers confessed to hitting him in the face with a shovel to stop him crying.
Pictures of curly-haired, wide-eyed Tommaso were splashed on the front pages of all Italian newspapers, eclipsing the run up to next week's general election.
"Since we heard the news last night, I and my wife have been overcome by a chilling horror that takes one's breath away," President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi said.
In his Sunday noon message, the Pope condemned the "barbaric" murder and said he was praying for Tommaso and all victims of violence.
Soccer fans at a Florence stadium held a banner urging the death penalty for the kidnappers. At least one member of the far-right Northern League as well as Alessandra Mussolini, grand-daughter of wartime fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, said the killers should be executed. Italy has no death penalty.
Tommaso, who suffered from epilepsy and needed anti-convulsive medicines, was snatched from his home near the wealthy northern city of Parma on March 2.
His parents, who are not rich, said they were eating dinner when the lights went out. When the father went outside to investigate, he was forced back into the house by two armed men.
They bound and gagged the family and went straight for Tommaso, pulling him out of his high chair.
The Pope, politicians, leading singers and soccer players all appealed for Tommaso's release. His parents made tearful appearances on television telling the kidnappers how to give him the anti-epileptic drugs he needed twice a day.
After a month-long investigation police at the weekend detained Mario Alessi - a mason who had worked at the Onofri family's home and had also gone on television to call for his release - together with his partner and another man.
Alessi said Tommaso was killed on the night of his abduction because he was crying.
