Two-year-old Beatrice's death in Bordighera: mother and partner arrested after sister's harrowing testimony reveals days of brutal abuse
The nine-year-old sister of a two-year-old girl who died in February has given a devastating account of the child's final days, describing how adults ignored pleas for help as Beatrice suffered fatal injuries in Bordighera, Italy.
A child's account of the final hours
The investigation into the death of two-year-old Beatrice in Bordighera, in the province of Imperia, has taken a harrowing turn with the protected testimony of her nine-year-old sister. The child described to investigators the agony her younger sibling endured over several days in February without medical care being sought. "Più la tenevi su e più la testa cadeva in avanti. Aveva tutto il corpo viola e le labbra viola. Già lì stava molto male," the sister stated, according to multiple Italian news reports.
Beatrice died on 9 February. Her mother, Emanuela Aiello, 44, initially claimed the child had fallen down the stairs to explain her bruised face and swollen eye. Aiello has been in prison since February, and her partner, Manuel Iannuzzi, 42, was arrested on Saturday. Both now face charges of mistreatment aggravated by the death of the minor, a charge carrying a potential sentence of 12 to 24 years, reformulated from the initial accusation of preterintentional homicide.
The sequence of events in Perinaldo
The sister's testimony, gathered in a protected hearing, reconstructs a timeline of escalating horror. On the evening of 7 February, while the three sisters were at Iannuzzi's home in Perinaldo, Beatrice was already showing alarming symptoms. The nine-year-old reported hearing her scream while with Iannuzzi and seeing her vomit repeatedly. The two older sisters tried to get help from the adults in the house but received no response.
On the morning of 8 February, Iannuzzi took the toddler into the bathroom. "La sentivo urlare e lui diceva: 'stai zitta, che non è niente'," the sister recounted. When she and her seven-year-old sibling entered, Beatrice was bleeding from the nose, her eyes were closed, and her head was lolling. The sister checked on her repeatedly as she lay on the bed: "Se le alzavo un braccio e poi lo lasciavo, cadeva giù." Despite this, no one called emergency services. By the afternoon, the child's condition worsened further; the sister said that during some maneuvers performed on Beatrice, "Bea sputava carne."
- Mother claims Beatrice fell at a friend's house in Vallecrosia.
- Evening: Sisters are at Iannuzzi's home in Perinaldo. Beatrice screams, vomits repeatedly. Older sisters seek help from adults without response.
- Morning: Iannuzzi takes Beatrice to bathroom; she screams, bleeds from nose, head lolls. Afternoon: Condition worsens, 'spitting meat'. No emergency call.
- Morning: Iannuzzi tells sisters 'don't go to school, a mess happened.' Beatrice transported by car to Bordighera, already dead for hours. Mother calls 118.
Evidence of prolonged abuse and depistage
Prosecutors have described a regime of "vessatoria prevaricazione" and beatings of "selvaggia intensità." The 33-page arrest warrant details slaps, punches to the face and body, hair-pulling, blows with a slipper, shoves against the wall, and intentionally caused falls. The autopsy confirmed a violent cranial trauma as the cause of death. Investigators from the RIS (Scientific Investigations Unit) analyzed the suspects' phones, uncovering WhatsApp messages describing the mistreatment, along with photos of Beatrice with a swollen, bruised face and a video in which she is forced to smoke a cigarette while adults laugh in the background.
Non ce la sentivamo, umanamente, ad andare avanti così. Ritenevamo di avere già elementi probatori molto consistenti e il tempo passava.
Prosecutor Alberto Lari of Imperia explained the decision to accelerate the arrests. The investigation also revealed attempts to mislead authorities. On the morning of 9 February, Iannuzzi woke the older sisters saying, "Non andate a scuola perché è successo un casino." During the car journey to Bordighera, with Beatrice's body wrapped in a red blanket, the mother and Iannuzzi allegedly instructed the girls not to say they had been in Perinaldo or that they knew the man.
The mother's role and contradictions
Emanuela Aiello is accused not only of beating her daughter but also of passively witnessing the violence committed by her partner without intervening. She is also charged with leaving the three girls alone to stay at Iannuzzi's house, insulting and cursing at the older children when they interrupted her phone calls, and denying Beatrice medical care. A witness told the Carabinieri early in the investigation that Aiello used to "picchiare quotidianamente" her youngest daughter and was a "madre violenta."
In her initial statements, Aiello claimed Beatrice had fallen days earlier, on 5 February, at a friend's house in Vallecrosia. She told investigators she had left the three children with Iannuzzi for three and a half hours on Sunday, and when she returned, Beatrice was unwell. "Non l'ho portata al pronto soccorso perché Bea era vivace, solita a questo tipo di cadute," she stated on 12 February. The arrest warrant highlights her "inquietante tendenza a camuffare o addirittura a distorcere i dati di realtà secondo la propria convenienza," noting her repeated lies and contradictions aimed at diverting suspicion from herself and her partner.
Custody and next steps
Aiello is detained in the Pontedecimo prison and is scheduled to appear before the judge for a guarantee interrogation on Wednesday, 3 June. The two older sisters, aged nine and seven, have been placed in a protected community. The final report from the RIS has been delivered to prosecutors and will be handed to the medical examiner, Francesco Ventura, to complete the autopsy. The investigation continues to piece together the full extent of the abuse that led to Beatrice's death.
