An Italian Court of Appeal has re-sentenced Davide Fontana to life imprisonment for the 2022 murder of 26-year-old model Carol Maltesi, overturning a controversial initial sentence that sparked nationwide outrage over victim-blaming in femicide cases.
The Milan Court of Appeal ruled in May 2025 that Fontana, now 45, killed Maltesi with premeditation and cruelty after learning she planned to relocate from Rescaldina, near Milan, to Verona to be closer to her six-year-old son. The decision restored the aggravating circumstances that had been excluded in the first trial, which had sentenced him to only 30 years.
Maltesi, a Dutch-Italian model who performed under the stage name Charlotte Angie, was murdered on 11 January 2022 in what prosecutors described as an act of “brutal gender violence”. The young mother had turned to producing adult content on OnlyFans during the COVID-19 pandemic to support her child, after previously working in a perfume shop.
The horrific details of the crime shocked even veteran police officers. During the filming of a pornographic video, Fontana struck Maltesi 13 times with a hammer whilst she was tied to a stripper pole, naked, gagged with tape and hooded. He then stabbed her in the throat with a kitchen knife in what he later described to police as an “act of kindness” to end her suffering.
The food blogger and banker spent the following three days dismembering her body into 23 pieces using a hatchet and hacksaw he purchased the day after the murder. He attempted to burn the remains on a barbecue at his rental home, and when that failed, stored them in five black plastic bags in a freezer he had ordered from Amazon.
For two months, Fontana maintained an elaborate deception, sending messages from Maltesi’s mobile phone to her family and friends, claiming she was travelling. He continued paying her rent and reassured worried relatives that she would return home soon.
The remains were finally discovered on 21 March 2022 by a passer-by in Paline di Borno, a mountainous area near Brescia, approximately two hours northwest of Milan. Police identified Maltesi through her distinctive tattoos on a severed hand found in one of the bags.
Initially, Fontana attempted to mislead investigators by offering “information” about her disappearance. However, police grew suspicious and arrested him. He subsequently confessed, claiming the pair had been engaged in an erotic game that went wrong.
In a leaked confession, Fontana described how they were scheduled to make two films that morning, with the second being more “violent”. He claimed: “I don’t know why I did it, I don’t really know what happened. She was still moving her head but I carried on hitting her.”
The first trial in 2023 sparked controversy when judges sentenced Fontana to only 30 years, ruling that the murder was neither premeditated nor involved excessive cruelty. The court’s reasoning, which described Maltesi as “uninhibited” and suggested she had “used” Fontana, who was portrayed as a man hopelessly in “love”, drew fierce criticism.
Can the character of a victim be an attenuating circumstance in a murder?” asked La Stampa newspaper at the time. Relatives of Maltesi expressed shock and incredulity at the sentence, whilst public opinion accused the judges of victim-blaming.
The appeal court’s recent decision recognised that Maltesi was killed “because she was a woman”, with judges writing in their 96-page ruling that Fontana acted with “vengeful intent” in a crime that represented a “constant common thread” with other femicides.
During his re-sentencing hearing, Fontana addressed Maltesi’s parents and her son, now eight years old: “I would like to apologise again to everyone, especially to Carol’s parents and to the son. I don’t know if I will ever be forgiven for what I have done. I would really give my life to go back.”
The court ordered Fontana to pay €168,000 (£143,000) in compensation to Maltesi’s mother and €180,000 (£154,000) to her son. The defence’s request for an abbreviated trial, which would have reduced the sentence by a third, was rejected.
Maltesi’s aunt welcomed the verdict, stating: “I’m happy, he has to pay because no one has the right to take the life of another person. The defence threw mud on my niece and on her grave.”
The case has reignited debate in Italy about femicide and the treatment of victims in the justice system. Maltesi had described herself on social media as a “half Italian, half Dutch girl who has always dreamed big and is never satisfied” – dreams that were brutally cut short by a man who couldn’t accept her decision to start a new life.
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