'My father killed my mum with an axe – my biggest fear is being just like him'

Daily Mirror

5 hours ago

Napoli's team of the 1980s was filled with headline-grabbing characters, but one member of the Neapolitans had endured a horrific start to his life before his football career took off
Ex-Napoli star Andrea Carnevale suffered a truly traumatic childhood. It ended up with him having to run to the police station, while carrying an axe that was splattered with his own mother's blood.
Growing up, his schizophrenic father constantly abused his mother. And despite repeatedly telling the police about the pain his mother was having to endure at home behind closed doors, her life ended when his father bludgeoned her to death with an axe as she washed their clothes.
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Carnevale, who went on to play alongside Diego Maradona in the great Napoli team between 1986 and 1990, took the very weapon which so brutally ended his mother's life to the police himself.
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Former Italy international Carnevale, who is now 64 years old, opened up about the traumatic incident in his book 'Il Destino di un Bomber' (The Destiny of a Striker). He wrote: "My mother never reported him for fear they would do something to the children.
"My father was very jealous. There was a climate of terror at home. I was there when she was slapped and beaten.
"On the morning of September 25, 1975, he woke up, grabbed an axe and went to my mother, who was washing clothes by the river near our house and killed her. I ran with the blood-stained axe to the police."
Carnevale – who made 10 appearances for Italy between 1989 and 1990, scoring twice for his nation – was one of seven siblings who grew up in the household. He admitted that one of his biggest fears was growing up to be just like his murderous father.
Two years after the tragedy, at only 16 years old, Carnevale made the decision to visit his him in prison.
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Opening up about the experience in his book, he added: "I wanted to look him in the eyes. He had taken everything from me in life. But when I saw him, I gave him a strong hug. Somehow, I forgave him, despite knowing that before me stood a very sick man."
After describing the experience as "the first step towards liberation" from the trauma, he added: "For many years I lived with the pain but also the fear of being like him. But no, I am not like him. I realised this when I saw him."
When asked what was wrong with his father, he added: "He was schizophrenic. He was never treated, a few years later he took his own life by throwing himself out of a window in front of my eyes."
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Not only did Carnevale return to the scene of his mother's murder, he bought the house. In an interview with Italian outlet Corriere della Sera, he said: "With my first money, I immediately bought our farmhouse in Monte San Biagio in Latina where we grew up.
"I paid 450 million old lire. It remains the best investment of my life: the theatre of horror became the theatre of love. There is serenity and strong union; happiness is another thing though – nothing will ever be like before.
"Everyone has their own life. My wife Beatrice is my world – the woman who understood me and immediately gave me a second chance – my everything."
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