A Swedish model is recovering in hospital after allegedly being abducted, beaten and raped over a period of six months in a town near the Italian fashion capital Milan.
Police have arrested 42-year-old Cinisello Balsamo after a neighbour contacted them when she heard screams. The arrest came around two years after he was released from jail after serving another rape and kidnap sentence.
The Swedish model, 23, was allegedly raped and beaten for a period of six months and was hospitalised in what doctors described as “a serious state of prostration, shock and malnutrition”.
A Swedish embassy spokeswoman in Rome said that it was working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after it had been informed about a Swedish woman being subjected to violence in the Mediterranean country.
The woman, who hails from southern Sweden, moved to Milan last September in search of modelling work after participating in a beauty pageant. However, according to Italian newspaper Corriere, she was duped by a fake agent she met on Facebook who persuaded her to stay with him while he tried to find her work.
The man is also said to have made her stop contacting all family and friends except her parents, who she was told to remain in contact with to avoid them becoming suspicious.