Teenage girl who killed abusive father released after prosecutors say she acted in self-defence

Deborah Sciacquatori was protecting mother, grandmother, as well as herself, authorities say

Deborah Sciacquatori was placed under house arrest after killing her father (Getty Images)

An Italian teenager who killed her abusive father has been released from house arrest after prosecutors said she acted in self-defence.

Deborah Sciacquatori hit her father Lorenzo, 41, over the head as he attacked her, her mother and grandmother at their home in north Rome.

The 19-year-old was initially accused of manslaughter after the incident on Sunday, but now faces only the lesser charge of culpable excess of legitimate self-defence.

Prosecutors have said that the case may be dropped.

“It is [likely] that in the next two weeks we may ask the preliminary investigations judge to shelve the case because the girl, according to what we have found, acted to defend herself," said Tivoli chief prosecutor Francesco Menditto.

Ms Sciacquatori had begged her father to stop the abuse, Italian news agency Ansa reported.

Prosecutors said witnesses to the fatal altercation reported the teenager saying: “Dad, stop, don’t do anything else.”

After hitting him, she is said to have cried: “Don't leave me, I love you.”

Mr Menditto said: "These words have been confirmed by witnesses to the fight."

The case has led to debate in Italy over the support offered to victims of domestic violence.

Mr Sciacquatori, an ex-boxer who lived in the town of Monterotondo, is reported to have been known to police as violent alcoholic.

His wife Antonietta had suffered two decades of domestic abuse but she did not report it for years because she feared her daughter would be taken into care, her parents told local media.

Mr Sciacquatori returned home drunk in the early hours of Sunday morning and shouted at his wife, daughter and mother-in-law for several hours, reports in Italy suggested.

The women locked themselves in a room, before later deciding to flee.

Mr Sciacquatori is said to have blocked their way and threatened them as they tried to escape.

His daughter hit him and slashed his neck with a knife she had taken from the kitchen.

Although the teenager stemmed the bleeding from the wound, her father died from injuries caused by the blow to the head, according to the newspaper Corriere Della Sera.