Republished September 11, 2017 - 9:32 AM
Original Publication Date September 11, 2017 - 7:36 AM
ROME - Italian prosecutors said Monday they are awaiting results of DNA tests aimed at establishing whether two paramilitary policemen on duty had sex with two U.S. students after driving them home from a disco last week in their patrol car.
The two Americans say police raped them after driving them home.
The DNA samples taken from both the landing and elevator in the apartment building where the young Americans were living in Florence are expected to confirm or not that the policemen had sex with them.
One policeman has already told prosecutors he had sex with one of the women. His lawyer, Cristina Menichetti, told reporters that her client contends the sex was consensual and that the woman wasn't drunk.
Menichetti said her client told her "I didn't rape anyone and that she invited me to go upstairs." She said he "noticed no opposition" on her part to having sex, the Corriere della Sera daily reported.
Authorities said hospital tests indicated the women had been drinking heavily before the police drove them home. Under the law, being drunk would preclude ability to give consent.
Chief Prosecutor Giuseppe Creazzo told reporters that investigators want to question the other policeman.
Neither suspect has been identified. The Carabinieri command said the two were suspended last week pending the outcome of the probe.
Gabriele Zanobini, a lawyer for one of the women, has said it would be impossible to call the sex consensual if the women were drunk.
Even if it is determined that the sex were consensual, leaving their patrol to have sex and driving the women home without informing their headquarters would subject the two policemen to disciplinary measures, including possible job loss.
The Carabinieri corps reports to the defence ministry, and Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti has said their conduct would be dealt with severely.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017