Widow wanted for murder

Murder

Vanuatu authorities have been seeking the extradition from Singapore of an Italian woman wanted over her husband murder

By Patrick Decloitre

Since last April, Vanuatu authorities have been seeking extradition from Singapore of an Italian woman arrested there while charged here over her husband’s death.

The case relates to the murder last November 29 of Italian builder Franco Picchi, who was found dead at the bottom of a slope at the back of his pick-up truck.

The body of Picchi, 51, was taken to the Vila Central Hospital morgue, where a post-mortem revealed heavy skull damage, broken neck and ribs and wounds on the back.

Picchi’s neck had traces of strangulation, and the chest was

also badly damaged.

Public Prosecutor John Baxter Wright, who immediately went on the scene with police inspectors, said there has been other cases of expatriates dying in Vanuatu in dubious circumstances, but nothing as violence-related as this case since the island state’s independence.

“Ni-Vanuatu usually kill with bush-knives, hands and feet,”

Baxter-Wright said, describing

the incident as the most violent death of a foreigner in Vanuatu since independence in 1980.

Despite the help of Australian Federal detectives sent to help, the Vanuatu Police had not been able to solve the case.

However, police confirmed on

April 21 a breakthrough in the investigation when they arrested two ni-Vanuatu men last week who confessed they had committed the crime in exchange of substantial amounts of money. The same week, they were charged with murder in Vanuatu Supreme Court.

The court also issued a warrant for the arrest of the victim’s widow, Luciana Picchi, who has also been charged with the premeditated intentional homicide of her husband, but by then she had left the island state.

Vanuatu government’s Attorney General, Patrick Ellum, said Luciana Picchi had been arrested on April 19 in Singapore with the help of Interpol’s international network and Australian Federal Police, and has since been remanded in custody there in Changi prison.

Following Vanuatu’s request for extradition, a court in Singapore has to decide whether they will return Mrs Picchi.

“I think they have reasons for doing so, but if Mrs Picchi wishes to fight the extradition, this will take a few more weeks,” Ellum said.

He explained this procedure of extradition is made easier through an agreement between Commonwealth countries,

and that is the normal procedure for each concerned coun try to deal with each other through their Attorneys General.

However, as Ellum said, the procedure seems to take “a few more weeks”. The Singapore Court, which is supposed to hear Mrs Picchi’s case and determine whether Singapore authorities are ready to accept to extradite her back to Vanuatu, had already postponed hearings twice on April 27 and May 4 and the court was to sit again on May 11.

This followed action taken by the accused Italian widow to fight the extradition bid by Vanuatu authorities.

Meanwhile, formalities between Vanuatu and Singapore are said to take longer than planned, official documents from

Vanuatu being delayed.

Ellum, who is liaising with his Singaporean counterpart in this case, said in early May that the difficulty resided in the fact that the Vanuatu extradition papers had to meet the exact requirement of law in Singapore. “Our initial docu ments have been examined by Singaporean authorities and they have requested certain amendments which are current ly being done.” Ellum said the modifications should have

Public prosecutor John Baxter Wright said there have been other cases of expatriates dying in Vanuatu in dubious circum stances, but nothing as violence-related as this case since the island's independence

been made in time for the hearing on May 11.

The Vanuatu press quoted newspapers in Singapore as saying in the meantime, Mrs Picchi was still kept impris oned pending the verdict of Singapore Subordinate Court. One of the best

lawyers in Singapore, Syed Hassan Almenoar, has been hired by Mrs Picchi's Italian lawyers to fight the extradition procedure. Part of her defence, sources in Singapore said, will be to argue that Vanuatu has no extradition treaty with Singapore, although both countries are part of the Commonwealth.

Another argument would be that the island state is not a member of Interpol, although the international police organ isation has assisted in arresting the 29-year-old Italian widow through its international network.

However, Ellum said although Vanuatu was not part of Interpol, he did not believe this would be a major obstacle to the extradition procedure. “It will take time, but we are confident we have a good case,” he said.

It is nevertheless likely that back in Vanuatu, a number of people who have been involved in one degree or another with Mrs Picchi and the whole case at large don’t want her to come back, neither do they want a court hearing related to this case to take place in the island state .Too many things, even not directly related to the murder of Franco Picchi, would then be brought to the open. ■