Tribune de Genève.
A doctoral student at the University of Geneva died after being attacked on the streets of Geneva. The attacker, on the run, is actively sought by the police.
The 29 year old Italian researcher died on Monday evening after receiving blows to her head from a metal bar. According to information sourced by the Tribune de Genève, the attacker is thought to be an African male aged between 20 and 30 measuring around 1.9 metres, that may have known the victim.
University hospital Geneva – © Hai Huy Ton That | Dreamstime.com
The attack took place in on Avenue de la Croisette, near HUG, Geneva’s main hospital.
At around 11pm on Monday night, while the young woman was walking down the residential street between the pediatric ward of HUG and rue de l’Aubépine, she was violently attacked on the footpath. “I saw the body on the ground and the emergency services trying to resuscitate her when I returned home shortly after 11pm” said Francois, a resident of the building. That lasted about 45 minutes. There was a sort of iron bar on the ground about 50 centimetres long that appeared to be lying at the foot of the seat. It looked very heavy, maybe several kilos. The police took it away.” As for the victim, “She looked like she’d returned from a sports class. She had a water bottle with her.”
Colleagues are shocked. Not even 30, the victim from Turin, Italy was doing a doctorat in medicine at Geneva University. On the telephone one of the professors of the department where she was doing her research said “We have very little information, but are all shocked and extremely sad.”
It appears the victim was on her way home, as she lived only tens of metres from the site of the attack. Local inhabitants were in shock when they heard the news. Despite being so close, one inhabitant couldn’t believe what happened below her window. “I was so close and I heard nothing” one said.
Witnesses are requested to contact the police as soon as possible on +41 (0) 22 427 72 40.
Full Tribune de Genève article (in French) - Take a 5 minute French test now
Update:
The Italian newspaper Torino describes the suspected attacker as a 36 year old Senegalese man. According to the paper, the suspect, a friend of Valentina, the victim, reportedly left his fingerprints on the weapon. In another incident, the suspect’s wife in Varese, Italy, reported him to the police after he reportedly beat her for leaving the house. It appears he might have fled to Switzerland to escape Italian justice. In addition, the article reports that Valentina told a friend she was afraid. Afraid of a man she had been seeing but had then broken up with, when she realized cultural differences and jealousy were making life impossible. Other friends said she had asked them if she could stay with them for a few nights because he was waiting downstairs for her. Another Italian paper, the Milano Corriere della Sera, carries a similar report on the investigation’s main suspect, described as Senegalese by birth and Italian by mariage.
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