Migrant Admits to Killing Italian Man Because He Was ‘White, Happy’

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Said Mechaout, 27, born in Morocco but a naturalised Italian citizen, confessed to the killing, which occurred on the banks of the river Po in Turin on February 23rd, claiming he had purposely been waiting to kill a white Italian near his own age, Il Giornale reports.

“I hit a white, based on the obvious fact that a young Italian would have caused a sensation,” he allegedly told police.

“I looked at him and I was sure he was Italian. I wanted to kill a guy like me, take away all the promises he had, children, remove him from his friends and relatives,” Mechaout said.

The Moroccan-born young man then described the attack to police saying, “I sat on a bench. I smoked a couple of cigarettes. People were passing by. I chose that place because you can run away immediately.”

He added that he had been looking for someone “happy” to kill when Stefano Leo passed by him wearing headphones and sunglasses. As Leo walked up the stairs to the street, Mechaout stabbed him in the throat.

“I saw that he was trying to breathe. He collapsed after making the stairs, trying to get some air. He knelt and then fell to the ground,” the Moroccan said.

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Italian investigators say that Mechaout had a son with a girl in Turin who had recently left him and that he was possibly motivated out of despair at his situation, along with not having a permanent job.

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