Rome, July 18 (IANS/AKI) An appeals court in northern Italy on Tuesday upheld the life sentence handed to builder Massimo Bossetti for the savage 2010 murder of 13-year-old schoolgirl Yara Gambirasio.
The Brescia court's judges issued their verdict after 15 hours of deliberation, throwing out a request by Bossetti's defence for new analysis of the forensic evidence.
The traces of DNA allegedly found on Yara's underwear were Bossetti's "beyond any doubt", the court said.
Bossetti's wife broke down in tears when the ruling was read out and his lawyers said they would lodge an appeal with Italy's Supreme Court, alleging had been a miscarriage of justice.
"I am the victim of the biggest miscarriage of justice this century," Bossetti said in court after the verdict, tears running down his face.
Yara's parents stated they were satisfied that "justice has been done".
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Yara vanished from a gymnastics training session in her hometown of Brembate in the province of Bergamo on November 26, 2010.
Her body was found more than three months later in an overgrown farmer's field in Chignolo d'Isola, some 20 km from Brembate.
The teen had died a slow death from cold, a fractured skull and stab wounds to her throat, chest, wrists and back, coroners said. The murder was described as "sadistic" by acting public prosecutor Marco Martani.
Bossetti was arrested in June 2014 after a complex police investigation and has always denied killing Yara, who he claimed "could have been my daughter - or anyone's".
Other evidence against Bossetti included his lack of an alibi on the evening of her abduction and murder, particles of builder's dust found in Yara's lungs, fibres on her body alleged to be from the seats of Bossetti's van and security camera footage of the vehicle driving repeatedly up an down the street where Yara disappeared.
Bossetti had also searched the Internet on his home computer for child pornographic images of girls of Yara's age, according to prosecutors.
--IANS/AKI
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