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Filippo Melodia (died April 13, 1978) was a Sicilian man who was convicted of the 1965 kidnapping and rape of his ex-fiancée Franca Viola. Melodia attempted to force Viola to marry him by pointing to the dishonour that would be brought to her family, but Viola shockingly refused and successfully prosecuted Melodia. The case gained national attention as the first time a rape victim had publicly refused a rehabilitating marriage.
Biography edit
Filippo Melodia was from the Sicilian town of Alcamo. He was the nephew of Vincenzo Rimi, a local mafioso. In 1963, aged twenty-three, he was engaged to the teenaged Franca Viola. However, Melodia was soon arrested for theft, causing Viola to break off the engagement. Melodia moved to Germany, but returned to Sicily in 1965. On his return he found Viola engaged to another man. Wanting to re-enter Viola's life, Melodia began stalking her and sending threats to her new boyfriend and her family.
On December 26, 1965, Melodia and a large group of friends broke into the Viola family home and badly beat Franca's mother. They then abducted Franca. Her eight-year-old brother Mariano, who refused to let go of his sister, was also kidnapped, although Melodia released him a few hours later. Viola was taken to an abandoned farmhouse, and held captive there for a week. During this time, Melodia repeatedly raped her and demanded that she marry him, but Viola replied that she had no intention of marriage and, moreover, that she would have him sued for kidnapping and rape. Meanwhile, the carabineri co-ordinated a dragnet operation that resulted in Melodia being identified, located and arrested on January 2 1966. Viola was then freed.
At the time, an Italian law stated that the crime of rape could not be punished if the victim married their rapist. There was also a Sicilian tradition that a woman who was raped would bring dishonour to her family if she did not marry her rapist. The Viola family ignored both of these and decided to prosecute Melodia and his friends for kidnapping and "carnal violence". Melodia's lawyers argued that the two were consensually eloping and the kidnapping had been staged to allow Viola to escape her family. Despite his counsel's eloquent defence, Melodia was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for eleven years, later commuted to ten. Seven of his friends were also found guilty and received relatively mild sentences. He was released on November 2, 1975, after serving nine years.
On being released, Melodia was ordered to remain resident in Modena for four years, reduced on appeal to two years.
On April 13, 1978, Melodia's association with the Mafia caught up with him. At the time, he was reportedly working in a body shop for very low wages. On the day of his death, he entered a local restaurant and began watching a football game. An unidentified man who had been waiting in the restaurant then produced a sawn-off shotgun (a "lupara", frequently used in Mafia-related killings) and shot Melodia, knocking him to the ground. The killer then stood over the wounded Melodia and shot him again, killing him, before escaping in a brown Mini Cooper. The murder was never solved, nor were the reasons behind it ever revealed.