The attack

A 21-year-old German woman studying in Milan on the Erasmus exchange programme was attacked shortly before dawn on Thursday, 15 October, near Parco Trotter. According to investigators cited by Il Giornale, she was walking back to her university residence after an evening with friends in the Policlinico area, having said goodbye to one of them on viale Lombardia. Her attacker came up behind her, knocked her to the ground and sexually assaulted her. Passers-by intervened and drove him off, after he had first tried to fool them by sitting down beside her. Two Italian men then helped her to the Mangiagalli clinic, where she received care before filing a complaint once she was discharged.

How investigators identified the suspect

Carabinieri from the Porta Garibaldi station needed five days to name a suspect. The breakthrough came from a backpack found in via Padova, close to the scene, which contained a till receipt and a SIM card. The receipt led investigators to a supermarket, where security cameras produced a still image of the man's face. The SIM card was traced to the shop where it had been bought, and from there to the person who used the line. Footage from public and private cameras in the neighbourhood then allowed investigators to reconstruct how the assault unfolded. Prosecutors Maria Letizia Mannella and Alfonso Serritiello coordinated the inquiry throughout.

Detention and the judge's next step

Investigators detained a 31-year-old Peruvian man on Tuesday, 20 October, on suspicion of sexually assaulting the student. Sources close to the inquiry, speaking to ANSA, describe him as having no fixed address and no regular residence status. He was questioned at a validation hearing, where the judge for preliminary investigations, Fabrizio Filice, must decide on the detention. Filice is due to file his decision on 22 October. The accusation remains a suspicion at this stage, and no trial date has been reported.