Lorena Venier, a 61-year-old nurse, told prosecutors ‘I have done a terrible thing’ as she confessed to killing her 35-year-old son Alessandro Venier in an attempt to ‘help out’ his girlfriend
A mum has admitted to murdering her own son in a desperate bid to ‘protect’ his girlfriend.
Lorena Venier, a 61-year-old nurse, dismembered her 35-year-old son Alessandro’s corpse after multiple botched attempts at killing him – and claims she acted to protect her daughter-in-law and baby granddaughter.
His body was discovered at his home in Gemona del Friuli near Udine, Italy, where it had been chopped up into three parts, crammed into a bin and and covered in quicklime to hide the smell. In a confession at her first hearing with prosecutors, the mother said: “I have done a terrible thing.”
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The mum went on to allege that her son was abusing his Colombian girlfriend, 30-year-old Mailyn Castro Monsalvo, who is the mother of their six-month-old daughter.
She said her son had developed problems with drugs and alcohol, and refused to help his mum and girlfriend with basic household tasks.
But she claimed she felt she had no choice other than to kill her son when he began talking about moving to Colombia with the family.
She told a hearing on August 2: “Mailyn is the daughter that I never had. Mailyn was being beaten up, insulted and threatened many times with death. My son downplayed the postnatal depression she was suffering from. Alessandro was violent, and Mailyn’s life was in danger.
“I could not have allowed them to go to Colombia, Mailyn and the baby would have run very serious risks there. The only way to stop him was to kill him.”
Mailyn is alleged to have helped her carry out the murder on July 25, and confessed a week later.
On their first attempt, the pair are said to have given Allesandro lemonade spiked with tranquillisers, though this did not have the desired effect.
Lorena then allegedly injected him with two doses of insulin she took from the hospital where she worked, but he somehow survived.
Eventually, the pair are believed to have killed Allesandro by smothering him with a pillow and strangling him with his shoelaces.
Mum Lorena says she then took to dismembering her son’s body, and told police: “I took care of the dismemberment myself. I used a hacksaw and a sheet to hold the blood. I dissected him into three pieces.”
Lorena has been charged with murder and concealing a body. Mailyn is suspected of instigation to murder.
Emerging details of the case have made headlines across Italy, and have stunned neighbours back in Gemona del Friuli, a quiet town of around 11,000 people.
Roberto Revelant, the town’s mayor, said: “Nothing like this has ever happened here before.
“It’s a terrible thing, it’s heart-wrenching.”
A post-mortem exam is to take place, with the results expected to be announced in the coming days.