Roberto Bizzari, the lawyer to Fillipo Ferlazzo, the Italian who beat Alika Ogorchukwu, a 39-year-old Nigerian to death on Friday, has presented new facts about the accused in an Italian court, indicating that his client suffers from bipolar disorder.

Bizzari further claimed in court that the fight between his client and the deceased was not racially motivated.

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Ferlazzo was filmed on Friday fighting the Nigerian on a street in Civitanova Marche in central Italy.

Bizzari subsequently submitted a request for Ferlazzo’s psychiatric report to the court, insisting that his client had spent time in a local psychiatric hospital prior to the fight that led to Alika’s death.

Bizzari said that his client had apologised for his action, and that the beating that led to the death of the Nigerian was not racially motivated.

The Nigerian Embassy in Rome had expressed shock over the sad incident.

“The incident occurred on a busy street and in front of shocked onlookers, some of whom made videos of the attack with little or no attempt to prevent it,” the embassy was quoted to have said.

According to Dailymail, the fight started simply because Ugochukwu said Ferllazo’s girlfriend was beautiful.

“This compliment killed him. The tragic fact is that there were many people nearby. They filmed it saying ‘stop’ but no one moved to separate them,” Daniel Amanza, an eyewitness said.

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Italian police arrested Ferlazzo for murder and theft of Alika’s phone after using a street camera to track his movements.

Charity Oriachi, Alika’s wife, has also demanded justice over her husband’s death.

“The aggressor went after the victim, first hitting him with a crutch. He made him fall to the ground, then he finished, causing the death, striking repeatedly with his bare hands,” Matteo Salvini, an Italian sympathiser, said.

FIJ earlier reported the death of Alika, a father of two children. He became a street vendor after he had an accident and lost his job as a labourer due to his disability.

“My condemnation is not only for the crime but it is also for the indifference. This is something that has shocked citizens,” Ciarapica Fabrizio, chairman of Civitanova Marche, a community in the Marche region of Italy, said.