“She agreed”, “we pay for the excess of life” –

Sara Giudice, a former correspondent for La7 investigated along with her partner, the journalist from Domani Nello Trocchia on charges of gang rape of another journalist (charges for which the prosecutor has requested the case be dismissed), explains her version in an interview with Selvaggia Lucarelli, published in Il Fatto on Friday 30 August. “Getting in the taxi with us was her initiative, in the taxi she kissed me. We never hugged her, held her back, she never said she didn’t want to do something”, she says regarding the evening in the pub in Trastevere which took place in January 2023. “At the end of the evening I was leaning against a van, I was wearing high heels that were bothering me, she came over and gave me a kiss. I happily returned the kiss”. It was “a game but I shared it willingly, I even liked it. I was also a little surprised at myself because it was the first time it had happened to me with a woman”, says the journalist.

The story dates back to January 29 of last year, when the three allegedly found themselves spending an evening of celebration in a club in Trastevere to celebrate Giudice’s birthday with other people. At the end of the evening, they allegedly got into the same taxi and, according to the complaint that La Verità reported yesterday, the couple allegedly kissed and groped their colleague who, at that moment, allegedly after drinking from a glass of whisky passed to her by someone, was unable to react. After speaking with her partner about that night, the alleged victim allegedly decided to have her urine analyzed, finding traces of GHB, the date rape drug, which however did not emerge from cross-examination by the Prosecutor’s Office. On February 2, she filed a complaint for sexual assault. In December, the investigating judge will have to decide whether to accept the request for archiving advanced by the prosecutor “because the fact does not exist” or whether to accept the opposition proposed by the complainant.

Of that evening «I remember everything. I was euphoric, but we were all on the same level, all present to ourselves». And again: «We leaned against the shutter in front of the house and continued to kiss. I had the child at home, the next day I had to leave…». The GHB, or the date rape drug? «When I read it I thought of the worst things. That there was a plot, something bigger than us. I don’t even know how it’s made». And about the journalist who accuses them. «I would like to meet her and ask ‘why? Let’s talk, you know too that no one raped you. Have you regretted it? That’s fine. But the crisis of conformism or repentance are another thing, you can’t mix plans’. If I contributed to making her regret something I also tell her that I’m sorry, but that kiss was consensual and she knows it».

When he learned of the investigation, Giudice says, he told Corrado Formigli. “He was understanding and fatherly, he told me to keep working.” And again: “We pay for the excess of life, perhaps. But if Nello had given me the impression of making a gesture too much towards a woman, I would have stopped him. In fact, I would have beaten him. He and I would never hurt any human being.”