A schoolboy was allegedly stabbed to death by a fellow pupil over a childhood photo of the victim and the killer’s girlfriend.
Abanoub Youssef, nicknamed Aba, was stabbed in the side with a 20cm kitchen knife.
It followed an argument in the school toilets.
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The single blow tore his liver and spleen, causing massive bleeding.
A teacher did what he could to stem the flow while waiting for the ambulance at around 11am on Friday (16 Jan).
The 19-year-old was still conscious when emergency services arrived, but his condition was critical from the start.
He was rushed into surgery, but his heart stopped at Sant’Andrea Hospital in La Spezia, Italy.
Aba and the suspect both attended the same school but were not in the same class.
However, they knew each other through the suspect’s girlfriend whom Aba had known since childhood.
Investigators believe the alleged killer acted after discovering that Aba had asked his girlfriend for a photo of them both, taken when they were eight or nine.
“It was just a stupid third-grade photo,” she wrote on social media after the attack.
“There isn’t a current photo of the two of us.
“There’s only a childhood picture that Aba asked for because he wanted to see himself as a child, when he had just arrived in Italy.
“There was nothing wrong with it, and besides, I never even sent it to him.”
Rumours have also been circulating at the school about an AI-generated selfie of the pair, according to local media.
Aba was born in Faiyum, Egypt, but had lived in La Spezia with his family since he was five, as reported by Need To Know.
Described as an exemplary pupil, he had planned to become an electrician after finishing school.
“Aba was a calm, quiet boy. Very shy,” his devastated uncle told local media. “He’d leave school and go straight to work.
“If everyone were like him, nothing bad would ever happen.”
The suspect reportedly told police during questioning: “He shouldn’t have done what he did.
“Exchanging those photos with the girl I’m seeing.”
The girlfriend, born in Italy to Indian parents and still a minor, has since broken up with the suspect and is reportedly cooperating with the investigation.
She also wrote online: “Yes, he had anger issues, but I thought that since I was his first love he just wanted me all to himself.
“It was jealousy, but I never thought it was dangerous. I really can’t understand how it could come to this over something so trivial.”
The suspect, aged 18 or 19, is currently being held at a prison in La Spezia and is facing a murder charge.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi told local media: “We need to ask ourselves how it’s possible that young people at school settle their disputes by bringing knives from home.”
Aba is survived by his parents.
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