Three men are facing charges, two of whom are currently in pre-trial detention. They are accused of targeting the restaurant’s cash, violently assaulting and strangling the employee, and leaving her body in the cellar.
A third man is alleged to have helped the others gain access to the premises. All three were arrested by police in Luxembourg City around a week and a half later.
The trial is scheduled to last three days.
The victim, Italian national Sonia di Pinto, had been working at the restaurant when she was attacked over the Easter weekend. Video footage reportedly showed two individuals entering the restaurant while she was counting the till, before subjecting her to a brutal assault and strangulation.
Her body was later found in the basement, near the restaurant’s safe, from which around €3,000 is believed to have been stolen. An autopsy confirmed that she had died from violent injuries.
Di Pinto, who lived in Longwy with her partner and had been active in civil protection work in her native town of Petacciato, Italy, was due to be married shortly after her death. The case shocked both Luxembourg and her home community.
