Italian police took a farm owner into custody on Tuesday, suspecting him of homicide after one of his undocumented workers from India died from excessive blood loss after his arm was severed by a piece of farm machinery. Prosecutors said that the landowner left the injured worker and failed to call for an ambulance.
The tragic death of Satnam Singh left Italians in shock and triggered demonstrations by unions and farm workers, who demanded improved working conditions.
Calls for end of the exploitative “caporalato” system, which involves the use of underpaid migrant labor in Italy’s agriculture sector have grown since the incident.
President Sergio Mattarella has also commented on the case, referring to the “cruel” exploitation of workers like Singh and the “inhuman” conditions that seasonal farmhands often face in Italy.
Carabinieri police in Latina, an agricultural province south of Rome, arrested farm owner Antonello Lovato after prosecutors elevated the initial suspected crime from manslaughter to homicide with “malice afterthought,” according to a statement from Latina prosecutors.
The decision was made after a forensic report established that Singh died from “copious blood loss” and that he “most likely” would have survived if he had received prompt medical care. However, an ambulance was not called immediately after Singh’s arm was torn off when it became caught in a nylon-wrapping machine.
According to Italian daily Corriere della Sera, the arrest warrant signed by Judge Giuseppe Molfese said that Lovato was operating the tractor that was pulling the nylon-wrapping machine and then left the bleeding Singh outside his home.
Italian news reports have cited witnesses claiming that Lovato refused requests by Singh’s wife, who also worked at the farm, to call an ambulance, asserting that he was already dead. A neighbor eventually called an ambulance, and Singh was taken to the San Camillo hospital in Rome, where he was declared dead approximately two days later.
Latina prosecutors said that Singh’s condition after the injury was so critical that it was evident he required immediate medical attention. The statement said, “At the present time, therefore, it must be held that the decision to omit the necessary care constituted acceptance of the risk of the lethal event and united the cause that directly resulted in death.”
