Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
The Assize Court of Rome in deliberation: verdict awaited for Francis Kaufmann, accused of the double murder in Villa Pamphili
Judges at Rome’s first Assize Court have retired to consider their verdict for Francis Kaufmann, also known by the alias Rexal Ford. The US citizen is accused of murdering his partner Anastasia Trofimova by suffocation and subsequently strangling their one-year-old daughter, Andromeda.
The lifeless bodies of the two victims were found on 7 June last year inside Villa Pamphili park.
The Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office — with investigations coordinated by deputy prosecutor Giuseppe Cascini and public prosecutor Antonio Verdi — has requested a life sentence with three years of daytime solitary confinement.
The defendant, who fled to Greece immediately after the killings before being arrested, faces charges of double aggravated murder. He is accused of acting for futile and abject motives, exploiting the victim’s diminished capacity, abusing the emotional bond with his partner and the familial relationship with the child, as well as concealing the bodies.
During the prosecution’s closing arguments, Kaufmann was described as a “cold, lucid, manipulative and pathological narcissist”, fully capable of understanding and intent, branding him a true “impostor”.
The public prosecutor also highlighted how the man had managed to deceive even the officers who detained him on the street while he was drunk with the child. It was emphasised that different action by the police might have saved the little girl.
The defence took the opposite view: lawyer Paolo Foti, representing the American (absent from the courtroom today), called for an acquittal on the grounds that the act was not committed, and alternatively requested the application of the doubt formula.
The defence argued that there was a lack of decisive evidence. It was also pointed out that no fingerprints linked to the defendant were found on the victims’ bodies.
The verdict is expected this afternoon.
