A man has been arrested in Italy after he allegedly fed his disabled cousin a doughnut despite knowing he had a condition that prevented him from swallowing food.
Police in the city of Reggio Emilia are investigating the 76-year-old man who is suspected of having killed his family member – for whom he was a legal guardian – over an inheritance of more than £250,000, Italian broadcaster Tgcom24 reports.
His cousin, 74, died on June 27 from suffocation at the care home where he lived. He suffered from progressive dysphagia, a condition that prevented him from swallowing solids.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the victim began having serious breathing problems after ingesting the doughnut.
His cousin did not immediately alert care home staff and bought a canned drink from a vending machine to help him wash the food down.
Only then did he call the nurses to say his cousin was unwell, but failed to mention that he had fed him solid food.
Paramedics were called to the care home, but the man died of cardiac arrest caused by choking.
Nurses reported the incident after they discovered crumbs on the victim’s clothing.
A man has been arrested in Italy after he allegedly fed his disabled cousin a doughnut even though he knew he had a condition which prevented him from swallowing food (file image)
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, it was not the first time the suspect had tried to feed his cousin solid food, and he had previously tried to sneak treats into the residential facility.
The suspect was also found to be one of the heirs to his cousin’s assets, and had tried to tamper with statements given by family members to police.
The charges brought against him include premeditation, abuse of duties in the role of a legal guardian, killing a disabled person, and impaired defence. He currently remains under house arrest.
The man’s arrest in Italy comes just days after an Australian woman was charged after allegedly poisoning her girlfriend’s curry with snail pellets at the office where they both worked.
The 43-year-old is accused of slipping the pellets into her partner’s lunch after allegedly breaking into a chemical storage shed.
Western Australian police say the alleged victim, 58, had brought a container of curry to share with her colleagues at her workplace in southern Perth in February.
Staff ate the dish during a morning tea break without any apparent problems, police say.
But when the woman returned to the staff kitchen at lunchtime to eat the leftovers, she noticed someone had tampered with the food after seeing green granules mixed into the dish.
Upon tasting the curry, the woman’s tongue went numb. She kept the food and reported it to the police.
Police found the pellets contained metaldehyde, a pesticide used to kill slugs and snails.
Detectives believe the 43-year-old woman had entered a chemical storage shed between the morning break and lunchtime, stolen snail pellets, and mixed them into the curry.
The 43-year-old was arrested earlier this month and has been charged with one count of endangering the life, health or safety of a person.
She is due to appear in court in Perth next month.
The alleged poisoning attempt follows the high-profile case of Erin Patterson in Australia, who was jailed for murdering three of her relatives after serving them beef Wellingtons containing poisonous mushrooms in 2023.
